In the final seasons of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke depicted a number of compelling interactions, but when Harington had to pick his favorite on-screen encounter with Clarke, he confirmed it was hard to top the first time Jon Snow met Daenerys Targaryen in Dragonstone. The final episodes of the series might have seen far more dramatic interactions between the two characters, but with both actors being integral components of the series’ mythology for years and being friends behind the scenes, getting to finally trade dialogue back and forth was a high bar to set for their scenes together.
“We had obviously known each other for a long time but lived in completely separate worlds in this universe that we were in,” Harington shared this past weekend at ACE Comic Con. “What was really exciting was that first scene when Jon walks into the Dragonstone throne room and sees her for the first time. This isn’t a world where you have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, like, he’s never seen this woman before, Daenerys, but he’s heard about her, the Dragon Queen. For us, for me and Emelia, it was really exciting because we had been friends for six years and seen each other’s work, but never got to meet.”
He continued, “So there was a lot of hype that day on set and I thought it was a beautiful scene, it was a beautifully written scene, weighted scene, they’re testing the water with each other, instantly you can see that there’s some attraction, but they’ve got their own agenda. I loved that scene, I loved doing that scene with her.”
The two characters’ first encounter was much more exciting than watching their final encounter, as Jon, having witnessed the lengths Dany would go to take the Iron Throne, ultimately killed the Dragon Queen, despite the romantic relationship they had developed. Sadly, this wasn’t the only woman Jon loved that had died in his arms, with Ygritte previously having died in an embrace with him, though he was the murderer in Dany’s case.
“This is the second woman he’s fallen in love with who dies in his arms and he cradles her in the same way,” Harington shared with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. “That’s an awful thing. In some ways, Jon did the same thing to Ygritte by training the boy who kills her. This destroys Jon to do this.”
There are multiple Game of Thrones spinoff series currently in development. Stay tuned for details on the franchise’s future.
What was your favorite scene between Jon and Daenerys? Let us know in the comments below!
