tv

"Very awkward on set." Game of Thrones actors Lena Headey and Jerome Flynn used to... date.

You may have noticed that Cersei Lannister and Bronn never appear in scenes together.

The Game of Thrones characters are linked together in the plot, but Lena Headey, the 45-year-old actress who plays Cersei, refuses to be in the same room as 56-year-old Jerome Flynn.

You see, the pair apparently used to date and it didn’t end… well.

Here’s the trailer for today’s finale episode. Post continues after video.

Video by HBO

“Lena and Jerome have not filmed together due to a bad break-up,” a GoT source told The Sun.

“They kept the full extent of it secret but it was a very turbulent relationship and it has been very awkward on set.

“Lena has opened up to her trusted friends. She appears to have a genuine hate towards him.”

Bronn game of thrones
Bronn (Jerome Flynn) and Cersei (Lena Headey) don't share scenes after a bitter breakup. Image: HBO.
ADVERTISEMENT

Lena and Jerome first met in 1993, while working on a TV series called Soldier Soldier.

They were first linked romantically in 2002, and it's believed they went their separate ways in 2014.

But in amongst that, Lena broke up with her first child's father in 2011, and got together with her current partner in late 2014.

It's all very confusing. Here's everything we know about Lena's life:

Lena's background

Although English, Lena was born in Bermuda in 1973. Her father was a police officer stationed on the island.

When she and her brother were young, the family relocated to Somerset, and later Yorkshire, and then eventually London.

ADVERTISEMENT

Lena was spotted by a casting agent while performing with school friends in a one-off show. She was cast in the drama Waterland in 1992 when she was just 17.

Actress Lena Headey
A young Lena. Image: Stephanie Rushton/Getty.

In 1994, she was in The Jungle Book, and in 1997 she was in the romantic drama Mrs Dalloway. 

Her career continued to grow and was particularly catapulted by her part in the Heath Ledger and Matt Damon adventure fantasy The Brothers Grimm in 2005.

ADVERTISEMENT

Other notable titles include 300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Laid to Rest.

She was cast in Game of Thrones in 2011 after her friend and eventual co-star Peter Dinklage suggested her casting to producers.

Lena's marriages and family

Lena married her first husband, musician and hair dresser Peter Loughran, in 2007.

They had a son, who they named Wylie. They separated in 2011 and divorced in 2013 and it was all very messy, playing out in the tabloids for months.

Speaking to More magazine in 2015, Lena spoke of her deep sorrow after her divorce was finalised.

NYLON Music Issue Launch Party
Lena and Peter were married for four years. Image: Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

"There's a lot of hurt and sadness and disappointment. Grief. Massive grief. It's a mourning process, and yet nobody's died," she told the publication.

During the interview she also spoke about her struggles with depression saying, "I haven't had a spell for a long time".

After giving birth to her son, Lena didn't realise she had postnatal depression and told Hello magazine she went to the doctor for a checkup and just "burst into tears".

"I did the first year [of Game of Thrones] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky," she said.

Lena's divorce proceedings made headlines when it was revealed in court that despite playing Cersei Lannister the actress had less than $5 in her bank account.

Her dire financial situation was revealed by legal documents obtained by TMZwhich were filed in response to Lena's husband's demands for half of their $46,000 tax refund from 2011.

She stated that she needed $6000 from the refund ASAP because she was barely scraping by.

ADVERTISEMENT

In 2018, Lena married the father of her second child, writer and producer Dan Cadan.

The pair had been friends for years after meeting as children, and became engaged in 2017.

“I always said to him, ‘Don’t ever ask me to marry you, it’s a disaster.’ But it actually feels really wonderful,” she told the New York Times.

ADVERTISEMENT

Very little is known about their wedding, which they managed to pull off without many people finding out.

Their daughter Teddy is two years old, and when she was pregnant with her, Lena chose to keep the identity of her father (her future husband) private.

Her son Wylie is now seven, and the family moved from LA to a small village outside London after Season 6 of Game of Thrones.

ADVERTISEMENT

“My life’s been mad for the last year,” Headey told the New York Times back in 2017. “I would’ve stayed in L.A. and played the game, but I want my kids to have a bit of grounding."

Lena on GoT

Lena has come a long way since having $5 in her bank account, she reportedly now makes $48,000 a minute playing Cersei in Season 8 of Game of Thrones.

Fox News did the calculations and broke down how long Lena was on screen against her salary (around $1.2 million per episode).

When Lena's character Cersei finally got to rule at the end of Season 6, she admitted she "couldn't believe it".

"I never saw that coming in a million years, I never thought she’d have the balls to finally go, 'All right then, I guess I’ll f***ing do it.'

"It was a great moment," she told Time.

She admits the end of the series doesn't feel real.

"Until the last day, when it’s goodbye, my most successful relationship, my longest relationship ever," she said.

On her character's death on the show, Lena recreated her and her on-screen twin brother's demise with Lego.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lena Headey (@iamlenaheadey) on

ADVERTISEMENT

She also admitted she had "mixed feelings" about Cersei's death admitting at first she was hoping for one final showdown.

“The more we talked about it the more it seemed like the perfect end for her. They came into the world together and now they leave together,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

"It's the first time that Cersei has been at peace," she added.

 

Catch up on all our Game of Thrones recaps, right here:

 

00:00 / ???