Kit Harington Was Disappointed That Death Didn't Dramatically Change GAME OF THRONES' Jon Snow

After the sixth season of Game of Thrones, I wrote a piece about how Jon Snow's resurrection was one of the worst aspects of the season. You can read the full piece, but essentially, my argument boiled down to the idea that, despite promises that Jon would be dramatically changed by his death and resurrection, we never saw Jon experience that dramatic change. He was basically the same character before and after that event. The showrunners blew it.

Now, in an interview with The Wrap, actor Kit Harington basically agreed with that assessment — though he does so diplomatically:

"I knew I was coming back to life, but I didn’t know if I’d come back as a changed person, as a villain. So I couldn’t pre-plan anything, which was hard.

And then I got the scripts, and actually, he comes back as himself, as the Jon that everyone knows. Which at first I found disappointing. But it’s more subtle than that. He has an insight into what lies beyond that very few people in his world do, and that no one in our world does—he knows that there’s no afterlife. Which does quietly drive who he is and what he wants to do."

"Subtle" is a generous way of looking at it, because while the idea of Jon knowing there's no afterlife sounds powerful, I don't think the show did enough to get that idea across. Yes, he mentions it a time or two, but I didn't feel like we felt the impact of that knowledge on the decisions his character makes, or that we ever felt him come to grips with what that really means.

I guess we have two more seasons (about thirteen hours) to find out if the showrunners can do a better job of getting that across in Jon's character.