Game of Thrones Star Breaks Down Emotional Toll the Series Took on Him

Not long after the Emmy-winning, game-changing drama Game of Thrones came to a conclusion, reports that star Kit Harington had checked into "wellness retreat" began to make their way online. Speaking in a new, and candid, interview with the SiriusXM TV series, The Jess Cagle Show, about what he did after the HBO series concluded. Harington spoke about his "mental health difficulties" after the series and while it was wrapping up, revealing that his time on the show made him need a break at that was all stemming from the show itself and the content within it that he was around for almost a decade.

"I went through, kind of, some mental health difficulties after Thrones, and during the end of Thrones, to be honest," Harington said. "I think it was directly to do with the nature of the show and what I had been doing for years. I think I took a break after Thrones, I said 'I don't want to work for a year, I want to really concentrate on myself.' I'm really happy I did that. Then coming back to work and deciding what to take and what to choose, you couldn't predict the pandemic; so just when I was wanting to come back to work the pandemic hit so I was like 'for god's sake.' But yeah, doing this Modern Love episode was bit like 'You don't have to live in that intense place all the time. Why don't you do something that takes the weight off? Why don't you do something fun?' I think that was part of my thinking on this one.

One of the first projects Harington took on after Thrones is the upcoming Marvel Studios movie Eternals, something he also opened up about speaking with Cagle as well.

"I'm a big fan of the MCU. So when they come knocking it's very exciting," Harington said. "The character, I won't go into why he interests me, because it's more than my life is worth to tell you. But what did interest me about that piece was that it as Chloe Zhao directing. I met her and spoke with her and was so impressed by her. The cast was sort of phenomenal and wide-ranging and diverse. It just looked like they were doing something really different with this movie. I can't tell you much about it but we filmed it pre-pandemic. And it's coming out finally, it was sort of frustrating that it got pushed back so much. But now I'll be going on and doing some press for that soon and it's really exciting."

Harington can be seen in Eternals later this year.