HBO
There aren’t many television shows that can rival the fall from grace fans of Game of Thrones were forced to endure as the epic series limped to the finish line, and Kit Harington sympathized with viewers who were disappointed by how it ended while shedding some light on why things wrapped up the way they did.
HBO found itself with a massive hit on its hands in the 2010s after Game of Thrones took the world by storm, and it seemed like it was destined to go down as one of the greatest shows in television history thanks to the riveting storylines and gripping performances that helped make it a cultural sensation.
There’s still a debate when it comes to the point where Game of Thrones started to head downhill, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who would tell you it was still firing on all cylinders by the time it came to an end with a whimper when the six episodes that comprised its wildly underwhelming eighth (and final season) aired in 2019.
There are plenty of theories about who is ultimately responsible for the decline of Game of Thrones. Plenty of people will tell you the bulk of the blame falls on the shoulders of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are frequently accused of rushing the ending after turning their attention to an ill-fated Star Wars project that never saw the light of day.
However, Kit Harington—the actor who portrayed Jon Snow—has thrown an interesting wrench into the conversation.
Harington has been very candid about his struggles with depression and substance abuse while filming Game of Thrones, and during a recent interview with GQ, he sympathized with the people who had issues with the final season while noting there’s a human element that tends to be overlooked, saying:
“I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f—ing 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.”
He also addressed the creative decisions that were inextricably linked to Game of Thrones deviating from George R.R. Martin’s source material thanks in no small part to the author’s inability to publish a new installment that could be adapted (although he did consult with the showrunners), saying, “I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.”
That’s putting it lightly.