Kit Harington Recalls Crying Over Taking Off His 'Game of Thrones' Costume for Last Time
By Hannah Wigandt
The anticipation for the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 8 is over and has now been replaced with a sort of sadness. Of course fans are eager to watch how the story unfolds and comes to a close, but that doesn't mean they're not dreading it, too. And if we're sad about these characters leaving us, then the actors who played those characters have to be feeling crushed.
In an interview with Esquire, Kit Harington explained how truly heartbreaking it was to say goodbye to playing a character that changed his life.
"My final day of shooting, I felt fine . . . I felt fine . . . I felt fine. . . Then I went to do my last shots and started hyperventilating a bit," Harington said. "Then they called, 'Wrap!' And I just fucking broke down. It was this onslaught of relief and grief about not being able to do this again. It wasn’t so much about Jon. It was about not being in this world, not getting to smell those smells, fight those fights, be with these people—the whole package."
Harington was just 24 when he first starred as Jon Snow, and since then he has met his wife, Rose Leslie, who he co-starred with, and has certainly grown as an actor. But it isn't easy shedding the skin of the character who brought him fame and one who he grew up with.
"The weirdest bit was when we came off set and they started taking the costume off and it felt like being skinned," Harington continued. "It felt like they were unceremoniously, for the last time, ripping off this character. I was still blubbering my tears. 'I need to say goodbye,''" he recalled telling the costume department. "But it was too late. He was gone."
One minute he was Jon Snow and the next he wasn't. As upsetting as that is, there's got to be some relief. The cast of Game of Thrones has given the world one of the best television shows in history, and even as they move on, their beloved characters will always be with them.
[h/t: Men'sHealth]