Kit Harington: Playing Jon Snow Was ‘Intimidating’ Since He’s a ‘Better Person Than Me’

Jon Snow famously knew nothing, but Kit Harington thinks the Game of Thrones character knew a hell of a lot more than him on one particular part of life: how to be a good person. 

At Ace Comic Con Midwest this weekend, Harington shared during a panel that he was somewhat intimidated by Snow as the character always held fast to what he believed and was loyal to a fault. 

“One of the struggles about playing Jon … was always playing someone who was a better person than me,” Harington said. “He’s good to his core. He’s loyal, he’s brave, he’s honest, he’s truthful to his very core, and I think that playing alongside a character like that for 10 years of your life is intimidating somewhat.”

Harington added that he hopes a bit of the character rubbed off on him over the course of a decade. Having spent the better part of the 2010s inside Snow’s head, he has an easy bellwether to access should he need to think about the correct course of action in any situation.

“You’re playing alongside someone who is the very essence of good and brave, so I can only hope that some of him does live in on in me, or that I learned something from him,” the 32-year-old said.

Harington realized after the show wrapped that he got off lucky playing Jon, a character whose essential goodness made him beloved among the fanbase. While the show was a massive hit, many of the indelible characters imprinted on fans for the exact opposite reason of Harington’s Snow. Namely, that they were so good at being incredibly evil.

“It’s only now that I’m realizing I loved him dearly as a person and I really enjoyed playing him. I think the thing for me when meeting fans or meeting people in the street is Jon was a very beloved character because he was a good person and he’s one of the very few good people in the show,” Harington said. “Whereas some of my friends have it a lot harder, like Jack Gleeson, who played Joffrey so well or Alfie [Allen]. It’s harder for them because people have a different relationship to their character whereas I got it very easy because people followed Jon. They like him, I think.” 

Harington has been candid about his feelings on the final season, sharing that he felt the show ended appropriately as far as his character was concerned. “This character that I loved for so many years and had grown so close to, and had meant so much to me, seeing him go beyond the Wall back to something true, something honest, something pure with these people he was always told he belongs with—the Free Folk—it felt to me like he was finally free,” he explains. “It was a really sweet ending.”