Lena Headey on playing Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones: Got to admire the survivor that she is

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from Game of Thrones season 8 episode 5 For our full coverage on Game of Thrones season 8, click  here . Cersei Lannister is perhaps one of the most formidable anti-heroines to have been created in the history of television. Despite the sheer villainy that she has portrayed throughout the eight seasons of Game of Thrones, fans could not help but be awestruck by the powerful Lannister queen. As the penultimate episode of the HBO fantasy saga drew to a close, ending with the death of the incestuous twins Cersei and Jaime, actress Lena Headey spoke about bidding adieu to the fan-favorite character. [caption id=“attachment_6624761” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Cersei Lannister. Twitter[/caption] Talking about bringing to life the merciless and shrewd Cersei, Lena confessed that she immerses herself in the character to portray it with as much conviction as possible. “There’s nothing I find more uncomfortable as an audience than I don’t believe you. I have to buy into who she is, and that takes a little minute of reassessing everything and blocking out everything else,” she said in an interview to Daily Beast. However, she joked that her cropped blonde wig, that she had to put on at the wee hours of the morning, also added to the “anger” required for the role. Despite the death of her three children, and Jaime abandoning her, Cersei stayed resolute in her motivation to retain the control of the Seven Kingdoms. Reflecting on the journey she has had with Cersei, Lena said that she “genuinely loves Cersei” and admires the “survivor” that the she is. “You just have to admire a survivor like that. She absolutely refuses to let go,” Lena asserted. [caption id=“attachment_6624771” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Cersei and Jaime reunite in the end of Game of Thrones season 8 episode 5. Twitter[/caption] She admitted that she was not completely happy with the end of her character, dying under a pile of rubble at the Red Keep. “I wanted her to have some big piece or fight with somebody,” she told Entertainment Weekly. However, after discussing the death scene with her co-star  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the actress finally warmed up to the idea of dying in her brother’s arms. She explained that the two were born together and left the world together, and it was probably for the first time that Cersei was “at peace.”