Kit Harington went to great lengths to keep Jon Snow’s resurrection a secret. Not only did the Game of Thrones star deliberately lie to fans, but he also kept the information away from his fellow cast members for months. While fans finally know the truth of Jon’s fate, Harington admitted the secret was difficult to keep.
In a revealing interview with Entertainment Weekly , Harington discussed how hard it was to ensure Jon’s fate would remain a secret. Although he admitted it was a fun game in the beginning, lying to close friends and crew members proved a difficult task.
“At first, I thought I would find it fun… This will be a fun game. But I had to lie to a lot of close friends and cast members and crew. The longer it went, the more I felt like I was betraying them. So I did end up letting people in, slowly.”
Harington knew what would happen to his character way back in Season 5 of Game of Thrones . While his co-stars thought Snow’s death at the hands of the Night’s Watch would be his ultimate end, David Benioff and Dan Weiss informed Harington that Snow would be revived.
Instead of letting everyone in on the big secret, the producers made Harington swear secrecy and keep Jon’s fate a mystery. This meant that Harington had to keep Jon’s resurrection from both his fans and co-stars for close to a year.
Despite all the secrets, there were some cast members who thought Snow would be back in action. Liam Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos in the hit series, told Harington to “f**k off” after Harington told him Jon was dead and wouldn’t be back. Others weren’t so skeptical.
For her part, Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark in the series, believed wholeheartedly that Harington was no longer with the show. She even wrote him a goodbye letter and expressed her gratitude for working together in the first five seasons.
“Sophie Turner, bless her, wrote me a really long letter about how much she loved working with me — and I still got it,” Harington shared. “That made me chuckle.”
Turner’s response to Jon’s death at the end of Season 5 is understandable, especially considering how everyone involved with the show lied about Jon’s fate. Fortunately, the script for the current season informed everyone on the show that Jon would be revived. Of course, fans were left guessing and theorizing whether or not Jon would return until the second episode of Season 6.
In fact, producers went to great lengths to keep Jon’s fate a secret. This included collaborating with HBO to throw fans off the trail. For the most part, they succeeded in keeping things under wraps. Now that Jon is back, however, Harington went on to add that he will play a very important part in the current season.
“It’s a massive season for him. It’s the biggest season for him so far. He features very prominently in this season,” Harington stated in the interview. “I was told that when I was told that I was coming back, that the season I was coming back for would be my biggest.”
Although it isn’t clear what Game of Thrones has in store for Jon and the rest of the Starks, it will be interesting to see what becomes of everyone’s favorite Lord Commander as the season continues to develop. Thankfully, the deception concerning Harington’s character is now over and fans can look forward to whatever comes next.
The sixth season of Game of Thrones continues with another episode, titled “Oathbreaker,” Sunday night on HBO.
Tell us! Were you shocked that Jon Snow was resurrected? Let us know in the comments and watch a preview for the next all-new episode of Game of Thrones below.
[Image via HBO]