Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Massive 4-Episode ‘Game of Thrones’ Salary Revealed

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will be rolling in as much cash as his Game of Thrones counterpart thanks to his massive per-episode salary.

According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s daily newsletter on Thursday, the 48-year-old Danish actor, who portrays Jaime Lannister on the popular HBO fantasy drama, will make $1,066,667 per episode for the upcoming eighth and final season. That is a major bump from his $942,857 per episode season seven salary. Along with the raise, Coster-Waldau reportedly received a $1.5 million advance of the show’s profits.

Unfortunately, the high salary could potentially spell doom for Jaime Lannister, one of the most beloved characters on the series. The star’s contract currently only has him listed for four episodes in season eight, which has already been touted as a bloodbath of a season that will see many main characters die “one by one.”

Jaime Lannister, who has appeared in all 15 of the latest episodes to air, was last seen turning his back to Cersei and abandoning his Lannister armor for simpler garb as he instead chose to head north. His departure from King’s Landing, according to Coster-Waldau, could end up having been a life or death decision.

“Well, he is heading north. I don’t think you can assume that he’s going to make it up there, but who knows,” Coster-Waldau told the Huffington Post. “For sure, we see him head north. He might be eaten by dragons, you never know. Or he might just stumble, things happen. Or he might find the love of his life and suddenly he’s like, ‘God, this is it. No more.’”

The actor’s short contract does not necessarily mean a grim fate for Jaime, however. It is equally possible that Coster-Waldau’s four-episode appearance in the six-episode-long season could be spread out, as has been seen in the past. Characters are frequently absent from episodes of Game of Thrones in order to allow for an episode to focus on a specific set of characters or a specific storyline.

Whatever Jaime’s fate may be, Coster-Waldau is satisfied with it.

“I wrote the writers when I finished reading and just said, ‘I don’t think you could’ve done a better job at finishing this story,’” he said. “To me, it was very satisfying but also very surprising and all the things that I was hoping for. It still made sense. It wasn’t like one of those where the killer is suddenly revealed in the last act and you go, ‘Oh! I didn’t see that coming.’ Here, they’ve done a really, really good job.”

The guessing game of Jaime’s survival will have to continue for several more months, as Game of Thrones season eight is not expected to premiere until sometime in 2019.