For quite a few years, Kit Harington was front and center for TV’s biggest event series, and though it’s been five years since Game of Thrones’ series finale, the franchise remains alive and well thanks to HBO’s House of The Dragon, the upcoming Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spinoff, and the lore-focused mobile game Game of Thrones: Legends. That said, the fantasy universe’s widespread popularity doesn’t guarantee that Harington’s public interactions are limited to only those who are familiar with his work.
The actor, whose standalone GoT spinoff was shelved earlier this year, did actually reprise the role of Jon Snow for the game, and has apparently enjoyed his time with the RPG offshoot. What he doesn’t enjoy as much, however, is being roasted by buddies over exchanges with what turned out to be non-fans. Here’s how Harington explained that particular brand of awkwardness in an interview with Page Six:
This is something that happens quite often. This is the opposite of a fan interaction. I got absolutely ripped the other day by my mates, because sometimes someone comes up to you in the center of town, usually a tourist, and they’re like, ‘Could you take a photo?’ And you’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure,' you’re with your mates. You go and you put your arm around them and they’re like, ‘No, no, no, of me and Big Ben.
To be fair to any and every one of Kit Harington's mates who have rousing chuckles over this kind of thing, it's pretty flipping funny, and the actor isn't clueless about why others are so gleeful about it. But it's assumely far less amusing (and more cold-sweat-provoking) in the moment to have allowed hubris to rear its inflated head, only to realize that others aren't asking you to share in any of their lifelong keepsakes, but rather to be an extension of the tool that makes the keepsakes happen.
Still funny for others, though, absolutely. But Harington described it with sli-i-ightly less positive language, before amusingly acknowleding that those aren't the majority of his experiences with fans. In his words:
That’s the worst. That’s the most excruciatingly embarrassing thing. Other than that, I’ve had some great ones.
To have a snapshot of Harington's face in the moment of realization, opposite possibly a twinge of confusion from the person asking for the picture. That's cringe art, my friends, but all in good fun, of course.
It'll be interesting to see if Kit Harington makes a return to the live-action universe based on George R.R. Martin's characters and stories, and how that might affect his future photo-taking opportunities. But for now, fans can look forward to seeing him back on HBO for Season 3 of the corporate-world drama Industry, which is available to stream with a Max subscription for its premiere on Sunday, August 11. In terms of less critically acclaimed projects, his werewolf horror movie The Beast Within hit theaters at the end of July, so keep an eye out for that.
