Kit Harington Talks Falling Asleep During ‘Game of Thrones’ Scene

The sixth season of Game of Thrones rumbled to a close on Sunday. After dying and being brought to life, Kit Harington’s Jon Snow ended the season on a high note: a roomful of warriors embraced him as the new “King in the North.”

According to a new interview with W, this development wasn’t always guaranteed. “I did have a couple of weeks when I thought I was going to die,” Harington explains. “I thought, ‘maybe this is it.’ And then I was told. I was one of the first people to be told. Then I had to keep this massive secret from everybody. Friends, family.”

Filming the reincarnation scene was a grueling process that apparently required “thousands upon thousands of takes.” “They wanted that over and over again,” Harington remembers. “I had to kind of say, ‘I don’t know how else to do it now, guys.'”

The actor also had trouble staying awake while playing dead. “I was lying down for so many hours for two whole episodes,” he recalls. “I fell asleep in the middle of a scene and woke up, and you know when you wake up you don’t quite know where you are? There’s nothing scarier than waking up in the middle of Game Of Thrones world ”“ naked and everyone standing over you ”“ and you go, ‘Oh my God, I’ve died and I’ve actually ended up in Westeros.'”

In addition to discussing the trials and travails of coming back to life on screen, Harington reveals that he showed up for his original Game Of Thrones audition sporting a black eye. The night before he was called in, he got into a fight defending his then-girlfriend’s honor at McDonald’s. “I think that man who’s punched me in the face may have helped me get the job,” Harrington says. “So if you’re watching, thank you!”