Former Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Sophie Turner played Stark siblings Jon Snow and Sansa Stark throughout the entire series, from Season 1 (2011) to Season 8 (2019). The two have since gone on to pursue glittering careers; both notably taking on Marvel roles as well as many others. And most recently, they are lovers in new Gothic horror movie, The Dreadful.
The Dreadful is both written and directed by Natasha Kermani (Lucky, Imitation Girl). The picture is set during the War of the Roses and follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), who live a solitary life away from society. However, when a man from their past, Jago (Harington), resurfaces, Ann's life takes a turn.
Working on the film was a particularly odd job for Harington. In the picture, he's plays the love interest of Sophie Turner's Ann. Naturally, having built up nearly a decade of working with Turner, switching from playing siblings to lovers was a challenging adjustment.
“She was one that sent that movie to me and somehow didn’t see what I saw in it,” Harington said in an interview with E! News (via Variety). "‘These guys, these are lovers, right?’ I felt very odd about that. But it was a good chance to be with her again and work together… It was slightly embarrassing, having to get on an apple box to kiss her because she’s about a foot taller than me. But other than that, my dignity was pretty intact.”
Ultimately, however, getting the chance to work alongside Turner again was what made him tackle the project. "What was lovely is that we got on set together and our friendship completely ignited again," he added. "It felt like being with family. It really did.”
Sophie Turner recalls sending the scripts to Harington.
As it happens, when Turner sent the scripts to Harington, she wasn't too aware of the amount of kissing required for the gig. Speaking on Late Night With Seth Meyers, she explained that she and Harington were initially apprehensive. “So, I sent the script to Kit, and he kind of sent me a message back going like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to, but this is going to be really fucking weird, Soph,’” she said.
“And I was like, ‘What is he talking about?’ Then I was reading [the script] and it’s like, ‘Kiss, kiss, sex, kiss, sex…’ And then I’m like, ‘Oh, shoot, that’s my brother.’ We put it out of our minds, and then we get on set and it’s the first kissing scene, and we are both retching. Like, really, it is vile. It was the worst.”
The Dreadful wrapped filming earlier this year. No release date has been set. Watch this space for more updates!