Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington has spoken candidly about his decision to check into rehab after the HBO hit wrapped.
In a recent conversation, the 39-year-old, best known for playing Jon Snow, joined former co-star Peter Dinklage to talk about sobriety, fame, and what life looked like once the series came to an end.
The discussion turned to the final stretch of Game of Thrones, with Dinklage — who portrayed Tyrion Lannister — asking what Harington did once filming on the eighth and last season finished in 2019.
“I decided to go to rehab as Episode 1 [of the eighth season] was airing, and I was there for six weeks. I needed to get sober. I needed to get my head on straight,” Harington candidly revealed in the chat, as part of Variety and CNN’s Actors on Actors series.
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute, there’s loads of press that needs to be done. You need to be front and center.’ But it was a good decision to go, ‘Actually, I’m checking out. I can’t do this’.”
Harington also shared that he never watched the show’s final season. After completing six weeks in rehab, he chose to step away from work for a year so he could, as he put it, “get sorted”.
But when he was ready to return, plans shifted dramatically.
“Right as I’m going to reengage with work, COVID hit. So it was this very strange period after the show ended,” he added.
Looking back, Harington said the unexpected downtime ultimately helped. It gave him space to “figure out who I was” and consider whether he still wanted to act, especially after experiencing much of Game of Thrones from what he described as a “place of pain”.
This isn’t the first time Harington — who is married to fellow Game of Thrones actor Rose Leslie — has discussed his sobriety. He has previously said addiction played a role in his decision to seek treatment, with alcohol among the factors involved.
In an earlier interview with GQ Hype, he said he felt “lucky” to have reached sobriety before becoming a father. Harington and Leslie welcomed their son in 2021 and later had a daughter in 2023.
He added that at one point it felt “physically and emotionally impossible for me not to drink again.”
Touching upon his recovery, Harington said, “The fact that I am proud of getting sober is in and of itself a mark of being an entirely different person. And now, every set I step onto, whatever work I do, I’m proud of, because I know I put everything into it.