Kit Harington says ‘Game of Thrones’ final season was ‘rushed’: There were mistakes made

PTI, Aug 13, 2024, 11:40 AM IST

Credit: Sachyn via Wikimedia Commons

Los Angeles: Mistakes were made during the final season of “Game of Thrones”, says British star Kit Harington, who played the fan-favourite character of Jon Snow in the HBO series.

During a profile interview with GQ Magazine, Harington agreed with the fans that the eighth and final season of the smash hit show, which premiered in May 2019 to negative reviews, was “rushed”.

“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 said.

“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,” he added.

The final season of “Game of Thrones”, which aired in 2019, faced widespread criticism from fans and critics alike for several reasons, with the most common complaint being that the show, which had spent years building up complex storylines and character arcs, crammed significant events into just six episodes.

Many fans also felt that the character arcs of key figures, especially Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, were poorly concluded.

Harington said though “everyone is entitled to their opinion”, the team felt worn out after filming the series for over 10 years.

“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 said.

“I went in and everyone loved ‘Thrones’; I came out and everyone hated it … I thought, ‘What the f**k is going on?’” he added.

The actor also talked about the spin-off series, based around Jon Snow, which is no longer in development.

“I don’t really want to say. Because it starts a whole thing,” he said.

It was reported in June 2022 that HBO was developing a Jon Snow spin-off with Harington in talks to reprise the role. However, in April this year, Harington revealed that the show is “off the table”.

The actor said when HBO approached him for the spin-off show, his 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’,” Harington said.