‘Game of Thrones’ Star Lena Headey Talks Cersei’s Longest Walk

Everyone seemed to have it rough in last night’s season finale of Game of Thrones. In the midst of all the emotions the brutal episode made us feel, sympathy for the biggest witch in Westeros, Cersei Lannister, wasn’t one that we were expecting, but oh did it go there.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

We heard rumblings of Lena Headey filming Cersei Lannister’s nude walk of shame back in 2014, when the production team had to scout out a new location due to the church they originally planned to film at backing out, but seeing it come to fruition last night was more emotionally jarring than most probably imagined.

So here was this character that have people loved to hate since the beginning of the series (and rightfully so!), being put into a position so horrible that you can’t help but feel some sort of bad for her, even if you don’t really want to (let’s not forget, she’s been pretty sadistic since she was a child), and none of that emotional conflict would have happened had Lena not played that scene so beautifully.

On filming the scene, Headey revealed to Entertainment Weekly that it wasn’t too hard for her to get into the mindframe of Cersei’s. “It’s not hard when people are screaming at you and you look like shit and you’re being f–king humiliated to figure out how that would feel,” she told the site. “There’s a part of you that’s f–king terrified. I can’t even imagine people wanting your blood. Cersei has done wrong, but she doesn’t really deserve this.”

So does Lena think Cersei deserved what she got last night? The short answer is no. “I don’t think anyone deserves that treatment,” Headey told EW. “She’s been beaten and starved and humiliated. She thinks when she comes out and confesses that this is it—even when she’s on her knees [confessing to the High Sparrow], she’s partly lying. She thinks she’s good to go. She has no idea what’s coming when she walks out to the steps, or that they’re going to shave her hair off like Aslan.”

What did you think of Cersei’s humbling and humiliating walk? Was it well-deserved or did they go too far? Talk to us in the comments below.

Photo Credit: HBO