Here are some photos of Kit Harington in London yesterday, going into a performance of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, which is currently being performed by John Goodman, Damian Lewis and Tom Sturridge. I guess Kit just fancied seeing a play.

If you’ve been watching the new season of Game of Thrones, the following interview will be somewhat interesting to you, as it’s just Kit talking about what’s going on with Jon Snow on the Wall. If you haven’t been watching then… SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS.

Jon Snow has actually seen his position in The Night’s Watch strengthened following the battle with the Wildlings and Stannis’s occupation of The Wall. Jon Snow was elected the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and on Sunday night’s episode, Jon Snow killed a douchebag. Jon Snow the character seemed to have somewhat mixed feelings about it, and as it turns out, Kit Harington had mixed feelings about playing that scene:

In the episode, “High Sparrow,” the newly elected Snow was publicly challenged when cowardly schemer Janos Slynt refused a direct order. Snow wanted Slynt to take charge of Greyguard (an abandoned castle located along The Wall) and fortify the position. Slynt repeatedly refused, so Jon Snow had Slynt hauled out to the Castle Black courtyard where he personally beheaded him.

“There’s a great juxtaposition there from when [in season 2] Jon’s captured Ygritte and he knows he should kill her but he can’t do it because he’s too good of a person,” Harington tells EW. “He had that moment again here. He’s thinking: ‘Can I kill a man in cold blood?’ And this time he does it. That’s a big change for Jon.”

Harington also pointed out that Jon is getting some justice for his father Ned Stark in that scene, even though he doesn’t know it (since Slynt was leading the King’s Landing City Watch, and betrayed and arrested Ned, in season 1). “I feel like somehow Jon knows, somehow deep down, that Slynt is an unjust man who’s done bad things and that’s what gives him the power to do that,” he says.

Yet filming the scene was difficult. Videos of Islamic fundamentalists from ISIS beheading prisoners were featured frequently in media reports late last year while Thrones was in production. Harington says this real-life horror made pretending to behad a prisoner in front of a camera more uncomfortable.

“It felt really dark because of the current news, what was going on in the news at the time,” Harington says. “And I’m doing this on camera. It really didn’t sit well.”

Harington is quick to point out he doesn’t believe Thrones should not have done the scene. “You can’t shy away from horror in drama and the things that you see on the news ever day,” he says. “But to have Jon doing it—whatever the right or wrong reasons he’s doing it—this is a character I love and he’s very good in this story, and to have him committing this murder in cold blood, that for me was the most controversial bit this season.”

[From EW]

I realize that it’s probably not a good idea for an actor to say “OMG, I love fictionally beheading people, it’s amazing.” But I’d like less angst with this one – I thought Jon Snow was completely justified in beheading Janos Slynt for cowardice and disrespecting the chain of command. But hey, I’m really enjoying the hardcore “gothic” feel of this season. It’s so moody and horrifying.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.