The year is 2019. Despite lackluster reception to the beginning of the shortened season, anticipation for the final episode of Game of Thrones is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. For years, we watched each character claw for survival. This was all too true for Jon Snow, played by Kit Harington for the entirety of the series. We felt for him in his rejection from his family, rallied for him to succeed on the Wall, mourned his loss, and celebrated when he rose from the dead only to then watch him murder the character we had all been rooting for since episode one. It was an atomic ending that sent shockwaves through the entire fanbase and I don’t know anyone satisfied with the conclusion.
While we were watching his character fight white walkers and seduce his aunt, Kit Harington was battling his own demons in a treatment facility, something he spoke on in-depth during his recent press.
In an interview with Sam Parker for UK GQ published August 12, Harington goes into detail about his experience in recovery. He says how traumatizing it was to enter the facility with everyone loving Game of Thrones only to exit with everyone hating it and how impactful Harington believes his sobriety has been in his life and his success. He gets raw and vulnerable, diving into how crucial he thinks it has been to his ability to parent and how grateful he is that he sought help before having children. He gushes as any loving parent does about the vulnerable experience of raising them and how much he loves his family.
He offers an inside look at his first series role since Jon Snow as Sir Henry Muck in HBO’s Industry, which is now airing season 3. Harington will appear in all eight episodes of the season and talks about drawing inspiration from the stereotype of privileged private school boys and how this show is much sexier than what he’s done prior.
Harington previously struggled with his heartthrob status at the beginning of his career. He talks about the inadequacy he felt when he first got the role in Game of Thrones, not knowing if it was for his talent or just his appearance, but says it’s become easier to embrace as he’s grown more confident in himself. His excitement for his new role and the challenges it presents him are obvious.
While it’s been many years since he’s played the Bastard of Winterfell, his time on Game of Thrones and his experience as they attempted to develop a spinoff titled Snow is discussed quite a bit in the article.
Harington answers questions about the final season of GoT and the intense disappointment that fans seemed to feel about it. He initially deflects assigning responsibility to any specific person or thing in particular for the failing, instead saying, “I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so fucking tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer…I look at pictures of me in that final season and I look exhausted. I look spent. I didn’t have another season in me.”
The interviewer then seems to press a little more in regards to the final episode specifically and Harington concedes, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.”
While he’s hesitant to place blame on anything specific for the downfall of the monolith show, there is a small amount of validation for those of us who felt we were slighted to hear he agrees there were mistakes made.
When news initially broke that the spinoff would not be moving forward, it seemed as though they just hadn’t found the right story for him yet. In his interview with ScreenRant on April 19, Harington says, “So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.”
Now, however, it seems he has more firmly decided that he will not be returning to the role.
In discussing the spinoff, Harington confirms that he was hesitant to sign when HBO initially brought the project to him but that he tried for a few years to help develop it into a story he felt was worth telling. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case. He explains, “In the end, I kind of backed out and said, ‘I think if we push this any further and keep developing it we could end up with something that’s not good. And that’s the last thing we all want.’”
That’s something I can’t help but respect. He has the opportunity to ride the Jon Snow train for the rest of his life. The universe is big enough and a spin-off would have done well even if the story and writing weren’t up to par simply because of the built-in fan loyalty. It was probably more challenging for him to say goodbye to the idea and accept that it would not be worthy of his time or talent than to simply continue playing the role that catapulted his career.
He talks about this, saying, “The role will always be just such a significant factor of my life. It might very well be the biggest, most important piece of work I do…[But] it was also working against what I’m trying to do, which is separate myself from [the show]. By still being with it, it [would be] very hard to ask people to see you as something else. And it’s kind of essential to do my job, for people to come and see me and not see Jon Snow.”
Instead, Harington is focusing on new projects and his family. His catalog has expanded greatly since his GoT days, including blockbuster movies and stage work.
And while Jon Snow will always have a special place in our hearts, I think we’re all excited to get to know Sir Henry and see all of the things Harington does next.
