Kit Harington on Game of Thrones, playing Jon Snow and Pompeii 3D

HE LOOKS like Jon Snow. He walks like Jon Snow. He even frowns like Jon Snow. But is Kit Harington anything like the much loved Game of Thrones character in real life?

HE LOOKS like Jon Snow. He walks like Jon Snow. He even FROWNS like Jon Snow. But is Kit Harington anything like one of Game of Thrones’ most widely liked characters in real life?

“I am quite independent in my life so I do think I share that with Jon Snow,” Harington tells news.com.au.

“He’s not a character that I feel like I have to stay in this constant state of angst with all the time. If I stayed as Jon Snow for six months I think I’d probably be very miserable. No one should do method acting with this show! I don’t go very method acting with Jon. I have a template for who he is and I go back to it each year and I fit into that kind of role.

“But it’s amazing to be part of something like this, and to be returning to a character you love every year,” he says with a hint of a smile.

Kit Harington was in Sydney to promote his new film, Pompeii, and season four of Game of Thrones. Picture: Mark Evans

Much of the filming of the A Song of Ice and Fire epic takes place in Northern Ireland and Croatia, and for Harington, a lot of his scenes were filmed in Iceland to achieve that truly isolating ‘beyond the wall’ effect.

“Getting into the wilderness really does help, being out in the elements,” Harington says of the filming process and ‘becoming’ Jon Snow.

“It’s a lovely thing that we have with Thrones — there’s very little studio work, there’s very little interiors. If we’re outside, we’re actually outside in Iceland. If we’re cold, we’re very very cold! And that gives a sense of realism to the whole thing that I think is very important.”

That snow? It’s real!

It’s perhaps this sense of realism that has catapulted Game of Thrones into such cult status. The fantasy series, which is about to premiere Season 4 on Foxtel, is watched by over 14 million people around the globe — and they’re just the ones we know about. GOT is one of the most pirated shows in the world, and has even been credited for the increase in purchases of huskies and other wolf-like dogs. And in case you were doubting its critical acclaim, GOT has won countless awards for everything from special effects to sound editing to acting.

See what else Kit Harington reveals about Game of Thrones in the video above

You’d think all that hard work and success would justify a holiday, but not if you’re Harington. The 27-year-old British actor has jumped headfirst into a role as a gladiator in Pompeii 3D, a film set in 79 A.D which tells the story of Milo (Harington), a slave-turned-gladiator who “finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, Cassia” (Emily Browning), before the real-life eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Harington performed all his own stunts as Milo in Pompeii.

“I’d wanted to play a leading role in a movie, and this one came along and it was in a territory that I knew something of. I had played sword-wielding action hero before in Thrones, so this one came along and it felt like the right thing to do at the right time,” Harington explains.

“I was really drawn to the director’s [Paul W.S. Anderson] passion for the project. He’s wanted to do this film for six or more years, he was really passionate about making a volcano explode onscreen, and I thought, that sounds like fun! And to play a gladiator — it was just very appealing to me.

“I also enjoyed playing a character who was a little less torn up inside,” he says, with a final hint of a smile.

For more from Kit Harington watch the video above

Pompeii 3D opens in Australia on March 20. The fourth season of Game of Thrones screens on Showcase on April 7.

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