‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 8: Is Cersei Lannister Dead? Lena Heady Discusses Her Fate

Episode 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones Season 8 saw the deaths of many characters. However, some fans are speculating over whether or not Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) survived.

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Episode 5 (titled “The Bells”) of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed this episode and wish to avoid spoilers.

In the latest episode of Game of Thrones, Cersei and her brother, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), had a reunion in King’s Landing that resulted in a tragic outcome. The pair had separated after Jaime decided that he couldn’t condone Cersei’s behavior when she lied to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) about helping fight the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) in the North.

Leaving King’s Landing, he headed for Winterfell and fought the Night King and his dead army. Afterward, he became romantically involved with Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). Fans were then devastated that Jaime left Brienne, citing he was returning to King’s Landing to be with Cersei.

Many fans speculated that Jaime was returning to try and sort things out between Cersei and himself or to try and fix the conflict between Cersei and Daenerys. However, what ended up happening was that Jaime was being honest to Brienne and was returning to be with his sister.

The pair were reunited during Episode 5 of Game of Thrones Season 8 as Daenerys razed the city. Then, as the Red Keep fell around them, the pair embraced before being crushed by rubble.

While it looked pretty conclusive that Cersei and Jaime died during this scene, some fans are speculating that the Lannisters are still alive. After all, Cersei was seen earlier in the episode being protected by falling rubble by the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), so the possibility is that Jaime also sheltered her from the worst of the falling debris.

However, according to an interview that Lena Headey did with Entertainment Weekly, it appears that Cersei is likely dead since the star discussed her character’s outcome.

“I wanted her to have some big piece or fight with somebody,” Headey said in regard to her initial read over of Cersei’s final scene.

“The more we talked about it the more it seemed like the perfect end for her. [Cersei and Jaime] came into the world together and now they leave together.”

This means that, for those fans that were hoping the Lannister siblings would somehow survive, this doesn’t appear to be the case.

Season 8 of Game of Thrones returns to HBO with Episode 6 on Sunday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET.