Kit Harington Didn’t Even Know He Had Curly Hair Before ‘Game of Thrones’
Kit Harington currently has a Jon Snow-centric Game of Thrones spinoff in the works at HBO titled Snow. If the series gets greenlit, that likely means the return of the one thing Harington was most known for while playing the iconic character — his long, curly locks.
Harington cut his hair short the moment Game of Thrones came to end in 2019, just like he had it before he landed the role nearly a decade prior. In fact, Harington had never grown out his hair before the series, so he had no idea he had curly hair.
Kit Harington doesn’t understand why people are so interested in his hair
Back in the heyday of Game of Thrones, circa 2017, Harington admitted that he didn’t understand why people were so interested in his hair.
“It constantly causes me wonderment that people get so interested in my hair,” Harington told
Sharp Magazine at the time. “The longer it’s left without doing much washing, the better. That is the secret. Honestly, if you want medieval hair, that’s how you do it.”
There’s a little more work that goes into getting that Jon Snow look, though, than just infrequent washing. Game of Thrones on-set hair designer Kevin Alexander mixed together wax and putty, and would scrunch Harington’s hair in sections starting from the nape of the neck.
“I do this thing that my friends call juzzing — pushing the curls up,” Harington explained
The actor was contractually obligated to keep his hair a certain length during the run of Game of Thrones. He had it trimmed every six to eight weeks to keep it looking healthy, but he was constantly looking forward to the day he could cut it off.
He had no idea he had curly hair before ‘Game of Thrones’
Playing Jon Snow on Game of Thrones was Harington’s first-ever TV acting job. He scored an audition during drama school when he caught the attention of producers while starring as Albert Narracott in War Horse.
When show creator D.B. Weiss recalled Harington’s first audition for Rolling Stone, he says he whispered to co-creator David Benioff, “This is what Jon Snow looks like, please let this kid be good.”
At the time, Harington had short hair and no facial hair. According to BuzzFeed, he’d never tried to grow it out before Game of Thrones. And he had no idea his hair was curly.
“I always had short hair before I did this, and then they went ‘Could you grow your hair and a beard?’ And I went, ‘Well, I’ve never grown my hair, and I’m practically pre-pubescent in the facial-hair stakes, but I’ll give it a go!'” Harington said.
Kit Harington might have to grow out his hair again if ‘Snow’ gets greenlit
HBO has had multiple Game of Thrones spinoffs in development for the past three years. But it wasn’t until recently that it was revealed a Jon Snow-focused spinoff was in the works. According to Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), this series didn’t come from author George R. R. Martin and his source material. Instead, it came from Harington.
“It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up,” Clarke told the BBC. “So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.”
If it does get greenlit, Harington will have to go back to the hairstyle he despised for years. Or — since he’s in charge of the production — it’s possible that Harington would have the character cut his hair so he doesn’t have to put up with contractually-obligated long locks like he did on Game of Thrones.
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are available on HBO Max.
