Meeting your life partner on a show where you play lovers is the stuff of fantasy — and not exactly the Game of Thrones kind of fantasy.
Yet that’s exactly what happened for Kit Harington and Rose Leslie, who famously met while playing star-crossed lovers on the hit HBO show. The couple announced their engagement in 2017 and were married in June 2018.
Jon Snow (Harington) and the wildling Ygritte (Leslie) made for one of the more positive relationships Game of Thrones fans ever saw on-screen, and the couple’s real-life romance probably made the on-screen relationship all the more exciting to perform. But for Harington, his favorite scene with Leslie wasn’t exactly a romantic one.
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“I liked her death. I know, it sounds bizarre,” Harington told People. In the fourth season of the show, Ygritte tragically dies in Jon’s arms amid battle.
“I thought she nailed that,” Harington said. “And it’s the first time in Thrones that slow motion was used and I think it’s a beautiful, cradling moment as this battle is raging in the background. It was one of those incredible shots.”
Harington’s pick might not be an obvious choice — there are several happier or sexier scenes between the two that come to mind — but it’s obviously a significant one. Like Harington and Leslie, both dedicated and passionate actors, Jon and Ygritte were equals, clever and formidable warriors with nearly three seasons’ worth of battle, banter, and iconic exchanges. When Leslie nailed Ygritte’s final “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” it wasn’t just an impressive feat of character storytelling. It was also a talented actress doing some of her best work, and Harington is here for it — and we’re here for that.