Kit Harington turned down a superhero film role while on Game of Thrones

We all know and love Kit Harington for playing Jon Snow in all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. But if things had gone a little differently, we might be celebrating him for playing another iconic character… we just don’t know who.

Let me explain. Speaking to Total Film, Harington revealed that he was offered a role in a superhero film while he was still appearing in Game of Thrones. But Harington did not reveal what that movie was.

“I won’t mention what it was, but yeah, there was one other [superhero movie] that I did turn down a while ago,” Harington said. “It was a while ago, as well – just because it didn’t feel like the right thing at the right time. And I think I was right to. My head was very in the Jon Snow world then.”

Of course, Harington actually is appearing in a superhero film now. He’s playing the character Dane Whitman, aka the Black Knight, in Marvel’s Eternals, which is dropping into theaters on November 5.

With Thrones over, the path was open for Harington to join the world of superheroes. “You know, the comic-book and superhero world has called once before, and I didn’t like the role and the part and the time to do it. So I turned it down,” he said. “And then this one [in Eternals] felt right to me. I liked that the character they were offering was not necessarily an Eternal. He was human. I did like that. I felt that I could do something with that, that he came with all these human faults. So it was the character that drew me to it, as well as it being the MCU, and how exciting.”

What superhero movie would Kit Harington have been in?

This is a hard question to answer. I’m assuming he was offered a role in either an MCU or DC movie, since those are the two cinematic superhero powerhouses right now. And he didn’t necessarily say he was offered the role of one of the main heroes, which makes it even more difficult.

Considering Game of Thrones began airing in 2011, this puts it just towards the end of Marvel’s Phase 1. And that means if he were to be cast in a Marvel movie, it’d likely be for Phase 2 or Phase 3. Would they have wanted him to play a villain like Baron Zemo? Or perhaps a more strait-laced character like Agent Ross? Harington’s talents are so great that he could play any one of those roles.

On the DC side, his Thrones run coincided with the dawn of their DCEU. Henry Cavill was cast as Superman early in 2011 before Game of Thrones, so that’s out. It would have to be a later movie like Suicide Squad or perhaps even Wonder Woman.

Really, the choices are endless. Perhaps if Harington provided a little more context about the role he declined, we could narrow it down. But whatever the case, Kit Harington is officially a superhero thanks to Eternals, though for some he’ll always be Jon Snow, who is a bit of a superhero in his own right.

Does Kit Harington have a future in the MCU?

When an actor gets hired for a Marvel movie, they often stick around for a while. Does Marvel have plans for Dane Whitman after Eternals?

“I’ve got no idea whether my character goes on or not,” Harington told Total Film. “I had read up on who he could be, or might be. So there’s the possibility for a longer trajectory. And hopefully, I think this is the tip of the iceberg for my character. I hope.”

"But I just don’t know, you know? I’m as in the dark as anyone else. And I try not to live too far ahead in the future with anything. Even when I was in Game of Thrones, even on the sixth season, I presumed the seventh season wasn’t going to happen!"

We remind you at this point that Kit Harington lied for months about Jon Snow being permanently dead at the end of season 5, so I wouldn’t take anything he says here too seriously.

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h/t GamesRadar