Kit Harington said in a new interview that he understands some fans’ disdain for the final season of “Game of Thrones.” He explained that the cast was completely exhausted and acknowledged that questionable creative decisions were made in the final episode.
“I think there were mistakes made, maybe in terms of the story towards the end. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work,” Harington, who played the Night’s Watchman Jon Snow in the series, said in an interview with GQ Magazine. “I think if there was any mistake at the end ‘Thrones’ is that we were all so damn tired that we couldn’t have carried on any longer. And so I understand that some people thought it was rushed, and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was an alternative.”
Game of Thrones, a series that will go down in history as one of HBO’s most successful shows with a huge fan base, was not well received by fans with its final season, which premiered on April 14, 2019, and concluded on May 19, 2019. While many felt the season and its finale were rushed, Harington said, most of the issues people had with the series ending were that the characters and their storylines were not sufficiently developed.
Harington added that “everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” but also explained how exhausted the cast was from filming.
“I look at pictures of myself in the last season and I look exhausted. I look exhausted. I didn’t have another season in me,” Harington said, adding that fans’ turn away from the series was shocking. “I went in and everyone loved ‘Thrones’; I came out and everyone hated it… I was like, ‘What the hell is going on here?!'”
Although Harington said it was time to leave the series, he initially did not sign on to do his own character-centric spinoff titled “Snow.” The series has since been put on hold, and Harington shared in his interview with GQ that it was a topic he did not want to discuss.
“I don’t really want to say that,” Harington said. “Because that’s where a whole thing starts.”
He continued, “What I can tell you is that HBO came to me and asked, ‘Would you consider this?’ My first reaction was no. And then I thought there might be an interesting and important story about the soldier after the war. I felt like maybe there was something left to say and a story to tell, and in a fairly limited way. We spent a couple of years developing it. And it just didn’t… nothing excited us enough. In the end, I kind of pulled back and said, ‘I think if we keep pushing this and developing it, we might end up with something that’s not good. And that’s the last thing we all want.'”
Right now, Harington is booked and busy, having taken on the role of Henry Muck in HBO’s London-set drama series “Industry.” The second season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” concluded on August 4.
