Game of Thrones star Kit Harington (Jon Snow) onstage at the Vaudeville Theater in London, where he stars opposite Johnny Flynn in True West, Sam Shepherd’s play about two brothers work out their issues in a California kitchen.
True West is a relatively simple, four-character play far removed from the sprawling world of Thrones. Harington, who made over his facial hair for the role, is branching out, but there are clearly still many fans eager to see Jon Snow on stage:
But Harington seems set on leaving that part of his life behind him. He talked to the BBC about what Game of Thrones ending meant to him:
It was emotional to leave the job definitely. But I wouldn’t say I was sad: if like me you go all the way back to the pilot of Game of Thrones that’s almost 10 years of your life – that’s really unusual in an actor’s career. It was a huge emotional upheaval leaving that family. But would I want to go back and do more? Not on your life.
To pound things home, when the BBC asked Harington if he would consider making a cameo appearance in HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel, perhaps as one of Jon Snow’s distant ancestors, he answered with an unequivocal no. He did drop an interesting spoiler for season 8, though: “[T]here’s a really big dance number.” We’ll look out for that.
Harington’s complicated feelings aren’t unique among actors in his situation. Take Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the astronomically successful Harry Potter movies. Talking about that part of his life with The Guardian, Grint’s situation sounds a little like Harington’s:
‘The line between Ron and me became thinner with each film and I think we became virtually the same person. There’s a lot of me in Ron and moving on was a massive adjustment because it was such a constant part of my life. I don’t want to liken it to coming out of prison because it wasn’t a prison, but it did feel like stepping out of an institution. It was nice to breathe the fresh air and now I’m really enjoying stepping further away from that blue-screen world.
Of course, Grint was younger than Harington when he was playing Ron, and the experience sounds like it was more intense. “There were definitely times when I thought about leaving,” Grint remembered. “Filming ‘Harry Potter’ was a massive sacrifice; working from such a young age for such long periods and I definitely remember thinking during one extended break, ‘This whole thing is so all consuming, do I really want to go back? Maybe it’s just not for me.’ I guess I was probably just being a teenager.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 28: Rupert Grint attends the “Snatch” TV show premiere at BT Tower on September 28, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
You can currently see Grint in Sick Note, about a guy misdiagnosed with cancer, on Netflix. As for Harington, Game of Thrones returns in April of next year.
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