Lena Headey Talks Cersei In Charge

We’ve heard from a lot of actors about Game of Thrones Season 5, but one actress who hasn’t been hitting the interview circuit as hard is King’s Landing’s own Cersei Lannister. Lena Headey announced her pregnancy a couple of months ago and has been mostly mum since then. So it was a surprise and a pleasure to run across an interview with her this week with Access Hollywood.

One of the major differences this year is that King’s Landing has been largely abandoned by the regular crowd. Tyrion and Varys have headed across the Narrow Sea. Sansa is safely back in Winterfell (well, maybe not safely.) Littlefinger is largely absent as he splits his time between North and South. Jaime’s gone to Dorne, and Tywin and Joffrey went to meet their makers. For the first time, Headey doesn’t have the bulk of the cast to work with.

“It was weird going back and not being with any of the actors we’ve spent four years with really, but it’s almost like letting this sort of horse off a leash — someone that’s been captured and tethered and then she’s like free, and there’s all sorts of madness going on and a sense of this newfound freedom bringing a bit of craziness and not really knowing where to run, but just f**king running because you can.”

There are a few people left in King’s Landing. Unfortunately, as Headey points out, they’re not exactly people Cersei wants to spend time with. She compares Kevan to an irritating mosquito. As for Margaery…

“I think that the fact that she’s younger irritates her and the fact that Margaery’s got a very strong mind. She seems to have more freedom than Cersei in many ways, I think. She’s got a grandmother who is very woman-centric. Olenna kind of breathes life into Margaery, whereas Tywin would suffocate it from [Cersei], so I think there’s envy in that relationship.”

That’s an interesting point to bring up, especially in light of Margaery calling back Olenna last week after things hit the fan where Loras is concerned. Cersei was raised by men who didn’t respect her, whereas Margaery was raised by the Game of Thrones VIP Master who nearly took down the Lannister clan in a single move. When asked if Cersei would have turned out differently if she had been raised by Joanna instead of Tywin, Headey admits that we just don’t know.

“I think really, really different, you know, dependent on the female, what her mother was like. We don’t know what her mother was like,” Lena said. “Had she had a soft… supportive, encouraging, nurturing mother, who knows? But she was raised by Tywin, who doesn’t particularly respect or value women… She’s never been seen for who she is, but she’s been seen as this kind of beautiful, spoilt queen, and I think she’s desperate to be seen for a smart, powerful woman and to make sure her remaining children don’t die.”

But we book readers do know a little bit about Joanna, including that she managed to marry into a very powerful and rich House, and that she was a lady in waiting to the Mad King’s wife, which is no small position. That and Tywin clearly loved her. One would assume Joanna was quite the player in her day.

As for the opening flashback this season with Maggie the Frog, Headey says that it’s a memory that “stayed with Cersei all her life.”

“I think it haunts her. I think like most things we fear in life as human beings, they come and go and I think obviously, when Joffrey died, it was a moment of, ‘Perhaps this is it. There’s something in it.” 

But Headey also thinks Cersei’s fear and paranoia also comes from her guilt from her relationship with Jaime.

“I remember, I think it was Season 2, when she confessed to Tyrion, she’s like, ‘Maybe this is all happening because I’m being punished for my relationship with Jaime,’ when she realizes what Joffrey is about, really.”

It will be interesting if that guilt manifests later on, especially if Tommen finds himself in trouble with the Sparrows after trying to defend Margaery, or if things go south with Myrcella and Jaime’s mission in Dorne.

• Published on 05/14/2015 at 10:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:04 PM CDT