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Kit Harington on filming his own Spooks stunts and the fate of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones

The actor talks to Jess Denham about the pressures of taking on a role in a movie adaptation with such high expectations

Jess Denham
Tuesday 05 May 2015 12:10 BST
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Kit Harington plays MI5 agent Will Holloway in Spooks: The Greater Good
Kit Harington plays MI5 agent Will Holloway in Spooks: The Greater Good

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Kit Harington has revealed just how close he came to a Daniel Craig-style on-set injury while filming Spooks: The Greater Good.

The Game of Thrones actor shot all his own stunts in the big screen version of the hit TV series and soon learnt first-hand just how risky playing an MI5 agent can be.

"There's a part where my head gets smashed through a wall. That wasn't meant to cave in so that was a close scrape," he told The Independent. "It was a rough movie, but you get bumps and bruises in any type of action movie."

Harington is all too aware that Spooks fans will be coming to see this film with high expectations, but refused to let that put him off the lead part.

"I'm stepping into the shoes of some actors I really admire like Matthew Macfadyen," he said. "There's nervousness about that but I'm never going to not take the role just because there's pressure behind it. If anything I want there to be pressure behind something."

"Please, stop shouting" he says, before sharing a little anecdote about one joker of a taxi driver. "I never thought Game of Thrones would be one to get a certain catchphrase attached.

"I once had a cab driver who would not stop calling me Jon Snow. At the end he said 'Thanks Mr Snow'.

"I don't think you can ever count on anyone making it alive in Game of Thrones, as with Spooks when it was on air. I really don't know. I love Jon, I hope he does, but you can't get too attached."

Spooks: The Greater Good is released in the UK on 8 May 2015.

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