Kit Harington said in a new interview that he understands some fans’ disdain for the final season of “Game of Thrones,” explaining that the cast was extremely exhausted and agreeing that there were questionable creative decisions made with the finale episode.
“I think there were mistakes made, story-wise towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work,” Harington, who played Night’s Watchman Jon Snow in the series, said in an interview with GQ Magazine. “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.”
“Game of Thrones,” a show that will go down as one of HBO’s most successful series with a huge fan following, didn’t get much love from those fans with its final season, which premiered April 14, 2019 and concluded on May 19, 2019. While many, as Harington said, thought the season and its finale were rushed, much of people’s issues with the series’ ending were rooted in there not being enough payoff with the characters and their storylines.
While Harington added that “everyone is entitled to their opinion,” he expounded on how worn out the cast was from filming.
“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,” Harington said, adding that fans’ turn against the show was shocking. “I went in and everyone loved ‘Thrones’; I came out and everyone hated it … I thought, ‘What the f–k is going on?!’”
Even though Harington said it was time to move on from the show, he didn’t initially sign on to do his own character-centered spinoff titled, “Snow.” The series has since been shelved, and Harington shares that it’s a subject he didn’t want to discuss in his interview with GQ.
“I don’t really want to say,” Harington said. “Because it starts a whole thing.”
He continued: “What I can tell you is it was HBO that came to me and said, ‘Would you consider this?’ My first reaction was no. 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. We spent a couple of years back and forth developing it. And it just didn’t… nothing got us excited enough. 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.’”
For now, Harington is booked and busy, as he’s joined the London-based HBO drama “Industry” as Henry Muck. “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” wrapped up its second season on Aug. 4.
