Kit Harington talks about keeping a big, big secret: Jon Snow isn't dead
Anderson Cooper speaks with Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow on "Game of Thrones." Below is a transcript.
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Anderson Cooper: Did you know when you read the script that you were gonna-- gonna come back to life?
Kit Harington: No. And I remember, I walked onto set at the beginning of the season, we'd done-- we'd shot quite a lot already, and I still didn't know whether I came back the next season.
Anderson Cooper: Really?
Kit Harington: And I walked onto this set, and David and Dan-- it might even been that scene-- I can't remember, but they tapped me on the shoulder and they said, "Can we have a-- can we have a word?" And we walked out those-- those gates, and they took me around the corner and they kind of checked over their shoulders. And they said-- "You know, you-- you're not dead. You're gonna come back (LAUGHTER) to life next season." And I was-- I kind of whooped and said, "You know I'm mic-ed, right?"
Anderson Cooper: Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Really? You said that to them?
Kit Harington: So it was just us and the sound guys--
Anderson Cooper: Uh-huh (AFFIRM)--
Kit Harington: --who knew. (LAUGHTER)
Anderson Cooper: I assume that was a relief?
Kit Harington: Yeah, of course.
Kit Harington: I sort of assumed-- everyone-- I-- I remember everyone-- because I read the script and was like, "Oh, God, okay. So you're going. That's g-- you're gone. Oh, that's"-- you know, and-- and a lot of people like, "Nah, you're not dead. They'll find--" and I had to assume in my sort of pessimistic way-- I had to go, "Well, you know, they killed Sean. They killed Richard." Like, I mean--
Anderson Cooper: It's a lot of dead people--
Kit Harington: I think it's-- I think it's my time. (LAUGHTER)
Anderson Cooper: When you were killed, from that episode to when you were brought back to life. Was it difficult, sort of keeping that a secret for a year?
Kit Harington: I thought I was gonna look forward to it, 'cause I-- I kinda thought it'd be a challenge. And it was a (LAUGH) challenge. I really didn't like it.
Anderson Cooper: Really?
Kit Harington: I didn't-- I didn't like it. I--
Anderson Cooper: Why, 'cause everyone was talk-- asking you about it? Or--
Kit Harington: Yeah, 'cause the way I feel about it is the show-- the show became this h-- this huge hit. And it-- it had a lot of attention around it. And that-- at that point-- you know, end of season five, it got-- it got global. And-- what I felt was, I think that a lot of the pressure of the show's-- magnitude and size is shared by a lot of the cast. But for that period, I was-- the spotlight went onto me fully, because I was the cliffhanger, because I was the thing that people wanted to know. And I felt the whole-- weight of that pressure of the show onto me. And it really-- I didn't-- I didn't like that.
Kit Harington: So, actually I was-- it was hugely relieved when we finally-- revealed that I came back to life. It-- it almost felt like kind of breathing fresh air, myself. I was like, "I'm out of that, thank God."
The video above was edited by Will Croxton.
