I went into this Kit Harington-GQ interview thinking it would be a slog, thinking that Kit was still the same grumpy and “reluctant” celebrity he was during the run of Game of Thrones. But something happened since GoT ended – Kit grew up, he got sober, he became a father and he’s chilled out a lot. Our surly little caterpillar has emerged as a decent guy/butterfly. Well done to him! Kit is currently promoting his entrance on Industry, that show about people in their early 20s vying for position at a prestigious investment bank in London. Kit was a fan of the show and he basically talked his way into joining the show as a manipulative con artist/CEO. He also talks about the stand-alone Jon Snow show, which probably won’t happen. Some highlights from GQ:

He went to rehab as the GoT finale aired: “I went in and everyone loved Thrones; I came out and everyone hated it. I thought, What the f–k is going on?!”

He was in over his head in the Thrones days: “I was trying to project this image of utter sophistication and coolness about what I was doing but genuinely [was] sort of terrified about everything.”

His posh ‘Industry’ character: “I’ve met a million guys like Henry. And I really prefix this with saying I think a lot of private and public school boys get a very bad rap. There’s many, many very nice guys who are privately educated. But I’ve met some who are entitled in a specific way, which is not obvious. Not your creep, or loudmouth. It’s more like, as much as they might purport to see the world and all its breadth, they really have a very tunnel-vision view of things.”

On all of the bitching he did about ‘don’t call me a hunk’: “I am aware that anything I say now is in context of me getting my bare arse out on Industry, [but] listen, I just think it’s a stupid word. Anytime I see a young male actor bandied about as being a hunk or heartthrob, it minimizes them to their appearance. We shouldn’t do that to women, we shouldn’t do it to men. That’s just how I feel about it.”

On the idea of coming back to play Jon Snow: “I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f–king tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer. And so I understand some people thought it was rushed and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative. I look at pictures of me in that final season and I look exhausted. I look spent. I didn’t have another season in me.” And the backlash to the final episode specifically? “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.”

What the ‘Jon Snow’ series was supposed to be about: “I don’t really want to say, because it starts a whole thing. What I can tell you is it was HBO that came to me and said, ‘Would you consider this?’ My first reaction was no. And then I thought there could be an interesting and important story about the soldier after the war. I felt that there might be something left to say and a story left to tell in a pretty limited way. We spent a couple of years back and forth developing it. And it just didn’t… nothing got us excited enough. In the end, I kind of backed out and said, ‘I think if we push this any further and keep developing it we could end up with something that’s not good. And that’s the last thing we all want.’”

Fatherhood: “Everything before kids is research. It does just change everything. I think, at heart—and I say this with love for myself—I’m quite self-centered. I think I’m a generous person and a loving person [too]. But with kids, you just don’t get to be self-centered. They strip you of it. And that’s an amazing gift. [Kids] are ultimately completely self-centered. They don’t think about anyone else but themselves. So your self-centeredness just has to park itself. And I think it’s the great thing about parenting. At the heart of it, it’s the most selfless thing you can do.”

Being sober: “I was so lucky I got sober before having kids,” because at one time it felt “physically and emotionally impossible for me not to drink again.” Does getting sober feel like his greatest achievement? “The very fact that I can be proud of it is an achievement. Because before getting sober, I would stare in the mirror and call myself a c–t. I’d hate myself. I would literally despise myself and not be proud of anything I’d done. I couldn’t be proud. So the fact that I am proud of getting sober is in and of itself a mark of being an entirely different person. And now, every set I step onto, whatever work I do, I’m proud of, because I know I put everything into it. Whereas before I had this huge monkey on my back that was just, like, weighing me down. So yeah, the whole nature of being proud of myself is a relatively new prospect for me.”

[From GQ]

I like what he says about his sobriety and being able to feel proud of himself and his life now. The self-loathing at the heart of many addictions, and the wallowing in that self-loathing. As for what he says about GoT… I get it. It’s not his fault either. The writers and producers f–ked over the actors and the fans. While I think that George RR Martin always intended for certain things to happen towards the end, the way those plot points were handled were… wacky and stupid. Last thing: he just needs to let the “hunk” thing go. Just ignore it. It’s the dumbest line in the sand. “No one should ever call anyone a heartthrob or a hunk!” GMAFB.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of GQ.