Spoilers ahead for Season 2 of Amazon's Modern Love.
Although Game of Thrones came to an end over two years ago, the legacy of the HBO series lives on. The cast has moved on to other projects, including Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington. However, the actor doesn’t seem to be able to get away from GoT, as his latest project has a reference to the series. And he was all for the Modern Love mention!
Kit Harington talked to E! News about the Amazon anthology series, Modern Love, and what made him sign on. In one episode of Season 2, Harington’s character, Michael, describes his medievalist love interest to his brother Declan (Jack Reynor). After hearing about the new girl, Declan appropriately asks, “OK. So, like Game of Thrones and stuff?” Harington admitted that the joke had a part to play in him taking the Modern Love role, confirming whether or not Reynor improvised the line:
No, that was in the script. And it's one of the main reasons I did the piece. You know, I read that and I pissed myself laughing.
It’s not uncommon for a show or movie to reference an actor’s previous work, but the fact that it was already in the script before Kit Harington even decided about taking the role is almost too good to be true. It’s great that Harington loved the joke so much that he ended up signing up for the role. What would have made it even more perfect would have been if his character made the joke, I think, rather than being on the end of it. But if it works, it works.
For Kit Harington’s Modern Love episode, showrunner John Carney apparently offered to cut the Game of Thrones joke from the script. However, Harington loved it and didn’t want it to take away from the scene itself:
He said, 'We could lose that if you want. I said, 'No!'...What I like about that moment, without giving too much away about the joke, is that you get the feeling that Michael the character has never seen the show, but it could also work on a level of, like, me the actor going, 'Don't even go there.'
It’s likely very flattering to have a shoutout on a TV show or movie in some capacity, whether it’d be full name-drop or a reference to a project you previously worked on. When it comes to Modern Love, the Game of Thrones line definitely worked in getting Kit Harington on board. See his episode of Modern Love streaming now on Amazon Prime! For more viewing options, be sure to check out our 2021 fall TV premiere schedule.
