Kit Harington talks his nude scenes on Industry, and his problems with objectification

Back in 2015, when Game of Thrones was near the peak of its popularity and influence, star Kit Harington (Jon Snow) talked about some of the weirder aspects of his newfound fame, including that he was uncomfortable being sexually objectified so openly. “To always be put on a pedestal as a hunk is slightly demeaning,” he said at the time.” “It really is and it’s in the same way as it is for women. When an actor is seen only for her physical beauty, it can be quite offensive.”

"Well, it’s not just men that can be inappropriate sexually; women can be as well. I’m in a successful TV show in a kind of leading man way and it can sometimes feel like your art is being put to one side for your sex appeal. And I don’t like that. In this position you get asked a lot, ‘Do you like being a heartthrob? Do you like being a hunk?’ Well, my answer is, ‘That’s not what I got into it for."

Harington got some backlash for these comments, with people essentially rolling their eyes that someone in his position would complain about being praised for their looks. (“He’s a sex symbol. Get over it,” actress Patricia Clarkson told The Guardian.) That hasn't aged well. Although 2015 wasn't that long ago, I feel like the discourse about sexualization of celebrities has moved on since then. In 2015, there was talk about how weird it was that female celebrities were constantly reduced to their looks, a discussion that became supercharged in 2017 when the #MeToo movement took off. But for men, there was a "lemme see your abs" vibe that we're still reckoning with. “I've decided I'm going to be a good little hunk and shut up,” Harington joked on Good Morning America in response to the backlash.

Kit Harington's evolving perspective on nudity, sex appeal and Hollywood

Harington has done a lot of growing since then; he married Game of Thrones costar Rose Leslie, had children, and grappled with substance abuse problems. He's more comfortable with himself and his place in the industry, to the point where he was willing to appear nude in the new season of Industry on HBO, where he plays a kinky tech CEO named Henry Muck. “That was my own work,” Harington told GQ of his Industry nude scenes. “I go to the gym for my head anyway. But when I knew I was getting my bum out, I was like, OK, you're on the squats this week.”

Whatever his misgivings about being objectified, Harington was protective of his image, making the case to Industry writers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay that he should be allowed to keep his beard. “One of the first things I said to Mickey and Kon was, ‘You guys are running a sexy show here. And I know you're going to want me to shave, because it’s banking isn’t it? And I just do not look sexy without a beard. I look like a tired child. No one's gonna believe that Marisa would go for me.’ They agreed, thankfully."

All the same, Harington still has concerns about how demeaning it can be to be reduced to sex appeal or good looks, and he's no longer willing to be a "good little hunk" and stay quiet about it. “I am aware that anything I say now is in context of me getting my bare arse out on Industry,” he laughed, “[but] listen, I just think it's a stupid word. Anytime I see a young male actor bandied about as being a hunk or heartthrob, it minimises them to their appearance. We shouldn't do that to women, we shouldn't do it to men. That's just how I feel about it.”

"If you've been the young male lead in something [like Thrones], and you could argue that I got given that opportunity because of my appearance, the worry is that that's all your worth is. And for me, the older I get, the more that drops away. The more I get to accept [that] no, I'm an actor. And I've been around for a while. And I'm still working. And so at some point, I have to accept that might have something to do with my talent as well."

The reality is that Hollywood trades on fantasy and sex appeal, which means that actors will almost inevitably be objectified by the public the more popular they get. It sounds like Harington has gained some healthy perspective on all of that, and is doing what he can to inch the conversation forward.

New episodes of Industry, about a group of people trying to navigate the world of high finance, drop Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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