'Game of Thrones' star Kit Harington reacts to Golden Globe nom: "I'm the loner Throner"
In Game of Thrones' sixth season, Kit Harington's Jon Snow, recently brought back to life, stood with sword in hand facing down an army of enemies all on his own. The "Battle of the Bastards" war hero survived that day, and indeed survived the entire series – and for Harington, the actor is once again hitting the battlefield by himself, this time at the 2020 Golden Globes, the lone nominee for Thrones' final season.
"I'm the 'loner Throner,' it seems," Harington tells The Hollywood Reporter about his nomination, the only one Thrones received for its eighth and final season. "I just imagine myself sitting down at a table all by myself as the 'loner Throner!'"
Nominated in the best actor category alongside the likes of Succession star Brian Cox and Mr. Robot lead Rami Malek, Harington's nomination for the final Thrones season marks the actor's first ever Golden Globes nomination. Calling in from "the cold and wet streets of London," Harington says he was at home when the nominations rolled out, blissfully unaware "that it was so early in the U.S." (As he puts it: "I'm looking forward to sunny L.A., I'll tell you that much.")
"I didn't expect to be nominated," says Harington. "I thought the show might be, but I was just at home, learning lines, and then my publicists called. It was very unexpected and wonderful."
"Every time I go to say goodbye to this show, something comes along that reminds me of the story of it," he adds. "This is one of those moments. I have to say thanks to the HFPA for nominating me. We spent a lot of years with this thing. Obviously, I dearly loved it. I loved every moment of it. I loved the character. It's a weird feeling, but I feel kind of happy for him, the character, if that makes sense."
The rightful ruler of Westeros by bloodline if not desire, Harington's Jon Snow ended Game of Thrones alive, as far away from the King's Landing political machine as possible: the far North, well beyond the Wall, walking into the Haunted Forest alongside Free Folk and fellow members of the Night's Watch. It was not an entirely happy ending for the character, who plunged a dagger into the heart of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in that final hour, but it was one Harington feels Snow very much earned.
"For me, that's the perfect ending for him," he says. "It's where I wanted him to be. I didn't want him on the throne, and I didn't want him to be dead. I wanted him to be in the North, where he belongs. My feeling is where he ended in the show is exactly where he should have ended. There was a full-circledness to it. This [nomination] feels full circle, too. It's a lovely way to say goodbye to the character. It's a lovely way to say goodbye to the show. It's perfect, in my book."
Of course, as the sole Thrones nominee heading into Golden Globes night, Harington acknowledges some missing ingredients for the completely perfect ending: "Obviously, I'm sad I'm not going to be there with Emilia, Peter [Dinklage], the rest of the cast, or [David Benioff and Dan Weiss]… obviously, I wanted everyone to be nominated, and I feel like they should, as anyone who loves their show and loves their cast and crew would feel and want. I'm happy for my nomination, and I'd love the show to be represented [more], but it won an Emmy, and it wasn't nominated for a Globe. So I'll represent the show on my own. I'll do my best."
As for anyone who thinks the former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and King in the North suddenly has unexpected open space at the Game of Thrones table on Golden Globes night? Think again.
"If [the cast and crew] can't make it, I'm just going to reserve the seats for no one," he says. "I think it's important that I look like I'm on my own." To riff on what one of his character's closest companions once said: "You know no one, Jon Snow."
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