Kit Harington has heard the criticism about the controversial ending to Game of Thrones. Now, he’s opening up about what went wrong.
In a new interview with British GQ, Harington addressed the Game of Thrones season 8 ending, acknowledging that the show committed several mistakes. Harington, who starred as fan favorite Jon Snow, also knew the show had to end due to the physical, mental, and emotional toll it took on everyone’s lives.
“I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f**king tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer. And so I understand some people thought it was rushed, and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative,” Harington told British GQ.
“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,” he adds. And the backlash to the final episode specifically? “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.”
Knowing how relieved Harington felt about the show ending, it surprised many to learn that a Jon Snow spinoff series was in development at HBO, with Harington reprising his role as the King in the North. Initially, Harington had no interest in returning to the Game of Thrones universe. However, he slowly warmed up to the idea after pondering about the story he could tell.
“What I can tell you is it was HBO that came to me and said, ‘Would you consider this?’ My first reaction was no,” Harington explained when approached for a Jon Snow spinoff series. “And then I thought there could be an interesting and important story about the soldier after the war. I felt that there might be something left to say and a story left to tell in a pretty limited way.”
Ultimately, the spinoff series was shelved.
“We spent a couple of years back and forth developing it. And it just didn’t. .. nothing got us excited enough,” Harington said. “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.’”
Harington currently stars as Sir Henry Muck on HBO’s Industry season 3.
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