Warning: This article contains potential spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8. You have been warned.
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We're dying to know who will make it through to the end of Game of Thrones, and who will meet their end.
So our ears perked up when we heard a rumour that one major character might be falling short of the finish line and only appearing in four episodes of season 8.
But all is not as it seems...
The speculation emerged from a legal dispute between Jaime Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and his former agent, with a breakdown of the star's income released as part of the arbitrator's verdict.
As seen on the last two pages of the official documents (released by Deadline here), the actor is pocketing over $1 million per episode of the new season, and it looked from the long list of earnings like he would only be appearing in four episodes of the HBO show's final run.
However, scroll down a bit further and you'll see another two episodes added on right at the bottom, all on their own, bringing his apparent involvement in season 8 up to the full six-episode count. (Yes, there's only six this time around.)
So what's going on? He may be in all six and there's nothing to see here. Alternatively, he may only be in four episodes after all and his salary has been adjusted to match that of the other top-tier stars on the show, or he may have been required for more/less filming than expected.
Besides, only appearing in four episodes might not mean that Jaime will die. Those episodes might not even be the first four of the season, and could well include the finale.
Digital Spy has reached out to Coster-Waldau's reps and HBO for comment. HBO declined to comment.
Coster-Waldau recently teased that he has read the season 8 finale script (without saying if he was in the finale or not) and said: "Some of the parts of it I'd get, and other parts of it were just completely shocking and surprising."
Going back to the part about actor salaries, Robb Stark actor Richard Madden revealed that he got paid "f**k all" for his time in the weird and wonderful world of Westeros.
Game of Thrones season 8 will premiere in 2019. The show airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Season 7 is now available to buy on DVD, Blu-ray or digital download.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
