Game of Thrones: Why did Cersei Lannister sleep with Lancel?

Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon teaser trailer

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Lancel Lannister (played by Eugene Simon) was one of the more intriguing characters in Game of Thrones. Going from being a bedwarmer for Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), he was reborn as a Sparrow, a member of the Faith Militant who was fervently devoted to the Seven. Like the rest of the Faith Militant, Lancel paid a high price for the cause when Cersei below up all the warrior priests in the Sept of Baelor.

Lancel was thwarted in his attempts to stop the cache of wildfire from igniting and taking down the Faith. His demise was one of the most memorable death scenes in the HBO show.

However, viewers still have questions about Cersei’s dalliances with Lancel, despite having three children with her brother and lover Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

Simon explained: “Why does she sleep with Lancel? Well, [Cersei’s] father was – her father was Tywin Lannister, the most powerful man in pretty much the Seven Kingdoms, but I think in the books she slept with him because he was someone that she could rule. Rule over, dominate and that’s Cersei’s want. She dominates.”

Simon suggested Lancel was in the dark about Cersei and Jaime’s love, let alone their incestuous offspring from their relationship.

“I don’t think he was aware. I think he looked up to Jaime, so sleeping with his cousin was almost like, ‘Oh my gosh, I guess this is the done thing.’ Like sleeping with Cersei was like, ‘Oh, this is me being a member of the family’,” Simon said.

He continued: “He may have had an inclination that there was some incest going on. Don’t forget, Lancel’s really young in season one. He’s supposed to be 17 or 16. So for him, this is, ‘A girl likes me, okay and she’s the queen-to-be. Even better. I’ll do what I’m told. If I can be of service.’

“Varys describes Lancel as ‘such a dutiful boy’. He does his duty. He does what he’s told. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for him.”

The relationship between Lancel and Cersei soured in season three after she refused to heed his words during the Battle of Blackwater. She hit Lancel for asking Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) return to the castle walls of King’s Landing to rally the rapidly depleting morale among the troops as they sustained major losses.

Thereafter, Lancel left court as he recovered from a wound and retuned in season five a new man with a purpose as he became a Sparrow with a new sense of identity.

Reflecting on this transition, Simon said: “Well, he hated her in the end. He hated her in his heart for a long time because he didn’t ever know if he was going to be with her, or he didn’t know what the right thing to do was. But he just sort of went along with it really.

“So he hated her but he wanted her to help him and she didn’t. I think for him, he thought that his place would always be in court but realised, ‘I’m as expendable as the shoes she wears. I’m expendable.’ I think that left him with a vacuum with no idea how to handle living.”

Since departing from Game of Thrones in 2016, Simon went on to star in TV series Genius portraying Eduard Einstein.

He has also featured in the movies The Lodgers, Sensation, Love Have I Known, and Resonance.

The British actor will next be starring in the post-civil war epic Steal Away, which is in pre-production and filming slated to take place in the winter.

Steal Away is based on Andrew Ward’s 2000 book Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America, focusing on a touring choir of former slaves and freedmen seeking to raise money for Fisk University which was on the brink of collapse.

Simon portrays Myron Sheolgate, a Bible-bashing preacher in the Deep South with equally fundamentalist beliefs to rival his Game of Thrones character.

Unlike Lancel, Myron is a nuanced villain who has suffered his own traumas. Simon said he really wanted the role, submitting not only the standard audition tape but also his character prep.

He said he felt “very strongly” about the character of Myron, who didn’t fall into the stereotype of a clansman. Instead, Myron had a complex journey ahead of him in Steal Away.

The actor said: “He is certainly a character that has a feature to him that unfolds in the film that has something to be said for it morally. There’s something profound to him and we’re going to see what that is.”

He described the music in Steal Away as the key to the story, saying it transcended “our boundaries and our conflicts and our differences”.

Director Stephen Ashley Blake said of the Game of Thrones star’s audition for the film: “Eugene Simon’s reading of role of Myron Sheolgate in Steal Away is electrifying, chilling and heartrending all at the same time.”

The founder and CEO of Realm Pictures International went on to say: “Eugene is one of the most extraordinary young artists of our time, and I’m beyond excited to collaborate with him in crafting this complex character.

“Myron Sheolgate is both a hate-mongering supremacist preacher and the tragic victim of unrelenting abuse as a child. Eugene as Myron will take audiences on a powerful, ever-evolving journey that will trigger deeply conflicting emotions about whether or not he is beyond redemption.”

Simon is now busy getting ready of Steal Away, working on perfecting the accent for Myron ahead of going to Georgia to shoot the film.

He is also starring in the heartwarming film The Fence set in 1980s Bristol following a young boy trying to get back his stolen motorbike with the help of his older brother, played by Simon.

Simon described The Fence as a “beautiful, coming-of-age movie”, which saw him putting on a West Country accent and shaving his head. The Fence, which also stars Sally Phillips, will be coming out in August.

Steal Away is in pre-production

Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon premieres on HBO on August 21

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