'Game of Thrones': Kit Harington Reveals His 'Controversial' Reaction to Daenerys' Death Scene

Kit Harington spoke about the ending of Game of Thrones on Sunday at a fan convention in Los Angeles, California. According to attendees, Harington acknowledged that he had not said much about the ending, and he felt that his take on it might be a bit controversial even to this day. He said that he felt the decision to have Harington's character Jon Snow kill Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) "felt right" to him, in spite of fans' revulsion.

Game of Thrones ended with an abrupt heel turn for the heroic liberator queen Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen. For reasons still debated by fans to this day, Dany abandoned her careful plans and directed her last living dragon to torch the city of King's Landing, killing indiscriminately. In response, Jon Snow killed Dany in the final episode, deciding that she was too "mad" to be redeemed. When asked about his take on this ending, Harington told fans that he thought Jon would struggle a lot with this decision, but that from a writing perspective Harington thought it worked.

"Here's my take on it: I think it's okay to be hurt," Harington said. "...I think that there were various things we all could have done differently throughout the show – not just in the final few seasons – that but I think that the story is right, and I think Jon killing Dany – I'm sorry – I think it's the right ending."

As for Jon Snow himself, Harington described how he felt his old character would move forward after the events of the finale – a topic he must have considered seriously having helped write and develop a potential spinoff show about it. He said: "I think if you asked him, he would've felt he got off lightly. At the end of the show when we find him in that cell, he's preparing to be beheaded and he wants to be. He's done. The fact he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse."

Game of Thrones' ending was widely disliked, and while critics and fans have debated the reasons for nearly four years, the main contributing factor was simply how rushed the ending was. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have taken most of the blame for this since author George R.R. Martin confirmed that they chose to end the show quickly even though both he and HBO were on board for more seasons.

Allowing for that, some will argue that the events themselves rang true even if they weren't given enough episodes to play out properly. Others vehemently disagree, and for what it's worth, we know for sure that the ending of the books will be far different. Martin has explained why in several of his blog posts about his progress on the next book, The Winds of Winter.

While fans may feel one way or the other about Harington's take on the series finale, he won't hold any real creative control unless HBO decides to greenlight his spinoff. At the time of this writing, SNOW is only in its development stage. For now, Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max along with House of the Dragon Season 1, and Season 2 is slated to premiere in 2024. Martin's books are available in print, digital and audiobook formats, and there's no official release date for The Winds of Winter yet.