Kit Harington Starting Afresh with ‘Modern Love’ and ‘Eternals’ after Mental Health Break

Game of Thrones introduced, if not propelled, Kit Harington to ultimate fame. For eight years, he portrayed the lead and fan-favorite protagonist, Jon Snow, on the hit HBO show and slew it on the screens. 

But, behind the camera, the long-running series had its toll on Harington. He felt lost once the show ended and had to join rehab for stress management.

Kit Harington Is Happy He Took a Break

Harington opened up about the mental health issues he got from Game of Thrones during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show on August 2, 2021. 

The 34-year-old clarified how the series's violent and emotional "nature" affected him during and after the show's ending.

He implied that the abrupt change of his year-long routine ultimately threw him out of balance, prompting him to take a year-long break from the industry. 

A visible moment of his breakdown, Harington cried at the table read of the last season. He broke down in tears as he read his character's ending, featured in a documentary titled The Last Watch.

And when the filming was over, he secretly joined a mental health and wellness facility for stress and alcohol use in April 2019. He opted for psychological coaching, mindful meditation practice, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.  

Back then, a source close to the British actor had told Page Six that the ending of Game of Thrones made him have a "moment of, what next." He quipped, "The end of GoT really hit Kit hard…"

Throughout the therapy, Harington focused on himself and his well-being. And now, he is thrilled he gave himself time to prepare for the upcoming challenges and shed the shadow of Jon Snow. 

All About Kit Harington's Comeback

The London native is back in the movie industry with a double bang.

He will portray a flirtatious character in the second season of the anthology series Modern Love. The show is slated to be released in August 2021 on Amazon Prime Video. 

His next big project is the anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe's movie Eternals.

Harington, a fan of the Marvel universe, was admittedly enticed by the idea of Chloé Zhao directing the film with a wide-ranging and diverse cast. As a result, he had no second thoughts about accepting the offer. 

In an interview for SiriusXM in July 2021, he shared the movie felt different from other adaptions.

Mentioning he couldn't say much about his character or the film because of privacy reasons, the stunning actor expressed how frustrating it was to see the movie being pushed back from its release. 

Thankfully, the movie has now got a stable release date. It will hit the theatres on November 5, 2021.

Harington will play Black Knight in the movie while his GoT co-star Richard Madden will join him as Ikaris. The other A-list celebrities to grace the film are Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, and Ma Dong-seok.