KIT HARINGTON

‘“ARE YOU JON SNOW?” NOT ANY MORE…’

Playing Jon Snow in Game

of Thrones brought him fame, riches and near constant demands to reveal plot spoilers. Currently starring in the classic Sam Shepard play True West in London, Worcestershire-raised actor

Kit Harington joined Rick Edwards onstage to discuss life before, during and now after GoT.

Rick Edwards: When did you get the acting bug?

Kit Harington: It was a performance of Waiting for Godot by the English Touring Theatre. They’d come to our theatre, The Swan in Worcester, and I was blown away by that play. RE: Were you already familiar with

the play True West?

KH: I’d read some Sam Shepard at drama school but I’d never read True West and it was a revelation. It’s very brutal. Very darkly funny and what appealed is it’s about two brothers but they’re so polar opposite as people you wonder how they can be related.

RE: Why choose this after GoT?

KH: I’ve always admired [director] Matthew Dunster’s work. The more I read the play, the more I was fascinated by Austin. It’s an amazing character. RE: How have you handled being in the GoT publicity crosshairs? KH: I’d be lying if I [said I] wasn’t at drama school dreaming of being in a big TV show, walking red carpets, going to the Emmys or other awards. That’s what I wanted and GoT threw that at me like a 10-tonne truck. RE: How did you deal with being accosted on the street?

KH: Sometimes it’s like, “Mate, not now.” I was giving Rose [Leslie, his wife] a kiss at the airport when she was going away for months. This guy walks up. I went, “No, go away, turn around, walk away, not a good time.” RE: What about now you’ve filmed your last ever scene?

KH: People come up and say, “Are you Jon Snow?” I’d finished GoT and been looking forward to going [confidently], “Not any more.” But I was so emotionally het up the first time it happened, that I said [tearfully], “Not any more” and started crying in front of this girl who went, “Oh”, and backed away. RE: Who’s the most surprising

GoT fan?

KH: Camilla Parker Bowles. I got invited to Wimbledon’s Royal Box. There was a lunch beforehand and I was sat at the royal table. It was just at the time when I was dead at the end of series five, and Camilla turned to me and asked, “So, are you dead?”