- “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington will appear in Marvel’s next movie, “Eternals.”
- Harington, who plays Dane Whitman, told Insider it’s tougher to keep secrets for Marvel than “GoT.”
- He never auditioned to play a superhero in the film — he was approached to play the human character.
If you ask Kit Harington whether it’s tougher to keep secrets for “Game of Thrones” or Marvel, the answer is simple.
Without missing a beat, Harington, who is joining the MCU in November’s “Eternals,” told Insider, “Marvel.”
Harington’s no stranger to keeping some of the biggest secrets in pop culture. He knew that his “Game of Thrones” character, Jon Snow, would eventually return to life after a much-discussed season five cliffhanger and knew how HBO’s mega-hit would eventually end with Snow delivering a shocking blow.
Harington told Insider that the acclaimed HBO fantasy series ultimately helped prepare him for his newest role in the MCU.
“I think I learned along the way with ‘Thrones.’ ‘Thrones’ became big as I was in it,” Harington told Insider.
Marvel Studios/Insider
“I learned along the way how to keep secrets,” Harington added. “Whereas with Marvel, I’m just entering this universe and being told there’s things I can or can’t say. So, I’m learning as I go here.”
Jude Law, who starred in “Captain Marvel,” previously told Stephen Colbert how intense Marvel Studios is about preserving secrets for its films. Law said a man was hired to make sure secrets didn’t get out through paparazzi shots. Whenever he exited a trailer, he was told to cover his outfit.
In “Eternals,” Harington plays Dane Whitman, a human who works at the Natural History Museum in London. Unbeknownst to Dane, he’s dating one of the super-powered Eternals, Sersi (Gemma Chan), who was sent to Earth to protect it thousands of years ago.
In the film, Dane finds himself in a bit of a love triangle with his former “Game of Thrones” colleague and friend, Richard Madden, who plays another Eternal, Ikaris.
Harington told Insider he never auditioned to play one of the super-powered beings. Whitman was a role that producer Nate Moore came to him about and that he later discussed with director Chloé Zhao. Harington was added quite late to “Eternals.”
“I didn’t audition or otherwise for anyone else in this movie,” Harington said. “I didn’t audition for Dane. They just came to me with Dane and said, ‘Is this something you’d be interested in?'”
Marvel Studios
Though he’s a non-powered human in “Eternals,” if you read the comics, you know that there may be more to Whitman than meets the eye. That’s one thing that attracted Harington to the character after turning down a superhero role in the past while filming “Game of Thrones.”
“There’s a space where this can live in my life and in my head,” Harington said of being able to focus on another character he’s excited about now that “Game of Thrones” is over.
“Not just in this movie, as small as that role is. There’s a lightness to him, which I really liked,” Harington said of what drew him to Whitman. “There’s a comedic element that was different from other stuff that I get offered, and the future looked quite interesting. So yeah, for all those reasons, this felt like the right one.”
“Eternals” will be in theaters on November 5. You can read our review here.
