Best known for his role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, Kit Harington is no stranger to fantasy period pieces involving sword fights and fair maidens. But one thing Harington was not accustomed to prior to Pompeii was being the lead actor in a film set amidst a historical disaster that involves political scandal, romance and an uneasy alliance with a fellow gladiator. It’s a difficult balancing act that Harington is able to convincingly pull off as he falls in love with a princess, does battle with Rome’s best gladiators and awaits the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. With the movie now in theaters, Wrestling with Pop Culture chats with Harington about Thrones, Pompeii and other  upcoming projects.

You started your career on stage, made the jump to TV and now you’re in your first starring film role in Pompeii. What has that process been like? How has each of these experiences prepared you for the next?

It’s been very lucky and it’s been a kind of organic experience. I came from a very theatrical background with classical theater training and expected to find most of my work in British TV. To go from a great leading role in theater, make the jump to American TV, then to be doing films was a strange leap to make. It doesn’t usually happen that way. Now I find myself wanting to return to British projects as much as I can. But it’s been a thrilling ride and this movie, especially getting to play a lead role, was a box to be checked. I really wanted to have lead roles in the future, so proving I could do one was important to me.

Game of Thrones and Pompeii are visually similar, which I’m guessing helped you get the role in Pompeii. How would you say your character on Game of Thrones compares to Milo?

I think they actually are quite fundamentally different people. They obviously look similar and they’re both sword-wielding heroes, to an extent. So being on Thrones did help me get this part. But I think whereas my character on Thrones is driven by honor and duty and doing right by people, what appealed to me about this character was that he’s none of those things. He’s purely driven by rage, vengeance and a desire to kill and eventually be killed. It’s kind of a death wish and I liked that in him and the change that happens to him in the movie. Encountering another gladiator and falling in love changed his outlook on things. I think that was the intriguing thing about this character.

Milo develops a bond with Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), but has an inevitable clash with him in the near future. How did you balance this rage and fury with the compassion Milo begins to develop for Atticus and the romantic relationship that develops with Cassia (Emily Browning)?

It’s important not to look at him in a modern sense. He’s a man from a different world, a different period, and his family had been killed. So I didn’t want to make him emotionally connected as we know it. He’s a very simple human being in lots of ways, and not exactly an intelligent man as we know it. I thought that was quite appealing and I quite enjoyed that. He has a way of looking at life in the film that’s unique in lots of ways to anything else I’ve seen or read. There are some slightly philosophical discussions that happen about the purpose of it all, then the volcano goes off and renders all life pointless anyway. It’s not your classic love story and it’s not your classic disaster movie in many ways.

You were in the original stage production of War Horse. Were you considered for that role when the film version of War Horse was released a few years ago?

I was considered for it, but I couldn’t even really contemplate doing it if I’d been offered it, which I wasn’t, because I was buried within Game of Thrones by then. And I felt that I’d finished my journey with War Horse, so it never really came up because it wasn’t something I had decided to do.

Game of Thrones is obviously still a hit, but do you have any other film or TV projects lined up after Pompeii?

I’ve got a few projects coming out. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is an animated movie that comes out in June that I’m doing a voiceover in. There’s a movie called Seventh Son reportedly coming out next year sometime. Season four of Thrones is coming out this year, and hopefully another season of that. And I’m working on a couple of movies this year, which I can’t talk about at the moment, but they should be quite exciting.

Seventh Son appears to be another fantasy based movie.

Yeah. I feel like I need to put the lid on fantasy for a little while. But that was fun and I got to work with some great actors like Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges. And working with a big studio was exciting.

Once you do put the lid on fantasy, is there anything in particular you’d like to do next?

I’d like to move into this century. I’ve done a leading role now, so the important thing for me now is interesting stories. So I’m going to step back into playing a more supporting role in some interesting projects.

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