Author George R.R. Martin may be a fan of Captain Marvel, but his fandom is nothing compared to the intense feelings that viewers have for Game of Thrones. After all, as he admitted earlier this month, he’s still getting hate mail regarding the infamous “Red Wedding,” but Martin isn’t the only one who has been overwhelmed by the attention. Kit Harington, who plays the once-dead Jon Snow on the show, has already talked about how grueling it was to shoot the final season. According to a new interview, however, the reaction to Snow’s death was so intense, he went to therapy.
Speaking with Variety ahead of April’s Game of Thrones season eight premiere, the actor revealed how “terrifying” it was to be at the center of it all. “When you become the cliffhanger of a TV show, and a TV show probably at the height of its power, the focus on you is f–ing terrifying,” he said. “You get people shouting at you on the street, ‘Are you dead?’ At the same time you have to have this appearance. All of your neuroses — and I’m as neurotic as any actor — get heightened with that level of focus.”
In order to deal with the seemingly uninterrupted onslaught from both Game of Thrones fans and the press, Harington sought professional help:
“It wasn’t a very good time in my life,” he says. “I felt I had to feel that I was the most fortunate person in the world, when actually, I felt very vulnerable. I had a shaky time in my life around there — like I think a lot of people do in their 20s. That was a time when I started therapy, and started talking to people. I had felt very unsafe, and I wasn’t talking to anyone. I had to feel very grateful for what I have, but I felt incredibly concerned about whether I could even f–ing act.”
Harington says that things are a lot better these days, but admits that he’s never really going to know how to deal with the game Game of Thrones has bestowed upon him. Describing himself as “awkward and English,” he quips, “I am just a bloke and not one who is particularly good at a lot of attention.”
(Via Variety)