Twelve times Game of Thrones stars should’ve won Emmys but didn’t
By Dan Selcke
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
Kit Harington: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — “Battle of the Bastards”
Kit Harington was good as Jon Snow. At the least, he improved a ton from where he started in the early days of the show, even if he never quite reached the peak of some of his costars.
He shone especially in moments of physical rigor. I think it’s easy to dismiss physical acting as not as serious as, say, a powerhouse monologue, but that’s not fair to actors like Harington, who give it their all in scenes like the Battle of the Bastards. Remember that glorious one-shot where Jon Snow is rushing through the field of battle, beset on all sides by arrows, headless horsemen, and blades singing through the air — Harington inhabits the space completely, whirling and slashing in a way that makes me exhausted just watching it. I don’t even want to think about how many times they had to shoot this:
Also gripping are the moments of desperation as Jon is trampled beneath a stampede of his own men, and his anger when he confronts Ramsay Bolton in the Winterfell courtyard. Jon’s story still had a ways to go after this, but I think this was among his highest points as a character, and featured one of Harington’s very best performances.