A breakout role can be a blessing and a curse for an actor. For every Harrison Ford who escapes the Sarlacc Pit of the role that shot them to stardom, there”s a Mark Hamill or William Shatner who never quite leave their fictional counterpart behind. Hamill has had other roles – most notably as the voice of The Joker – but Luke will follow him like a Force Ghost for the rest of his days. But being pigeon-holed isn”t just for pop culture icons of yesteryear. In fact, we may be witnessing it in real-time with one of the stars of HBO”s Game of Thrones.
Kit Harington is Jon Snow. Jon Snow is Kit Harington. They are one in the same, forever entwined by their fabulous hair.
There were early warning signs that Harington was diving headfirst into a future on the convention circuit as “former Game of Thrones star” when the promotional images from Pompeii came out in 2014. Those abs say ‘gladiator” but that face says ‘human puppy Jon Snow contemplating his Cross-Fit regimen.”
But that could just be a fluke, right? And besides, Harington is still in the throes of filming Game of Thrones. Once the series wraps up, surely he”ll be able to move on. Yet his co-stars Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams are already getting lost in other roles (Terminator, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Doctor Who respectively). However, when Harington became a spokesman for Infiniti last month, all anyone could see was Jon Snow reciting poetry while driving a car.
Jon Snow driving an Infiniti looks about as natural as Taylor Swift would look hanging out with the Night's Watch.
– OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) August 30, 2016
Am I the only person disturbed by the #Infiniti Q60 commercial with Jon Snow driving? It's weird right? #GameofThrones
– Carla Curry (@IAmCarlaCurry) August 25, 2016
Those infiniti commercials with kit harington are so jarring?? It's so fucking weird to see jon snow in a car ????
– angela anaconda (@poulinian) September 2, 2016
Hey, #Infiniti? I speak for all of us when I say that nobody wants to see Jon Snow driving a car. Make it stop. Thanks.
– Richard (@alltvallshade) September 14, 2016
Those are just a few choice excerpts from the peanut gallery but a quick perusal of any social media will find hundreds more along the same lines. We cannot distinguish Kit Harington from Jon Snow because they are literally the same person as far as America is concerned. Okay, so maybe live-action is out of the question. But as shown earlier, Mark Hamill made a distinguished career out of voice-acting in a post-Star Wars universe. Could Harington find solace there as well? Not if they”re going to use his face, apparently.
Activision just released a new trailer for the latest installment of the Call of Duty franchise. Infinite Warfare will be set in the future as humanity fights amongst themselves, only this time in space! The storyline feature evil Jon Snow as the head of the Settlement Defense Front. His evil plan? To be free of the shackles of Earth”s government…which, okay…how does that make him the villain?
Regardless, it is not a good sign for Harington that many people”s first reaction to seeing his digital face was “What is Jon Snow doing in space?”
Maybe it”s the hair? I think it”s the hair. Like Samson, it is the source of his power. But to be truly free of the Night”s Watch, it may need to be sacrificed for the good of Harington”s career.