Kit Harington teases Melisandre romance on 'Game of Thrones'

Is Jon Snow going to fall for another redhead? Kit Harington teases what’s next for his Game of Thrones character in a brief and spoiler-free Q&A below.

When we last saw the Stark bastard in season 4, he had triumphantly helped defend The Wall from the Wildling invaders—yet lost his love Ygritte (Rose Leslie) in the fighting. With Wildling leader Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) captured, Snow is dealing with a new authority figure: self-proclaimed king Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), as well as his witchy mistress Melisandre (Carice van Houten).

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You had a really strong performance last season, and it seems like you get all the toughest locations—you’re always out in the cold.

Kit Harington: This year I don’t think I did one scene in the [Thrones‘ studio hanger]. It was all on location. I don’t mind it. It sucks sometimes, but I always feel slightly sterile when I’m in a studio. I quite like location work. It always feels more like Thrones when you’re out in the cold and rain.

What’s your overall impression of the season?

I think this is the first season I’ve topped Peter [Dinklage] in having the most shoot dates on the calendar. There’s a lot of Jon in there. I’m really proud of this season. I think across the board it’s going to be very, very strong. I watched The Sopranos, and season 5 was the favorite, and we were modeled after The Sopranos—so hopefully it will be a good one.

How have last year’s events changed Jon?

He doesn’t have time to mourn. We saw him mourn at the end of last season, when he burns Ygritte. And this season he only mentions her once—in a scene where he’s being come onto by Melisandre. He’s got bigger things at hand. If he’s missing her, it’s internal. He’s hardened, in some ways, this season. He’s also got to play more politics this season, which he’s not good at. He’s lost his love, but he’s also lost his brother, his father, his stepfather. He thinks he’s lost both stepsisters and his other brothers too. He’s used to loss and he’s gotten good at dealing with it.

How does he feel toward Melisandre?

He’s incredibly intrigued by her. I find it endlessly funny that he really fancies redheads. One dies, and another comes along, and he’s all, “Hello!” There’s mutual interest between them that we see right from the get-go. There’s definitely a future there this season, with him and her. Who knows what Melisandre sees in people, but she’s obviously obsessed with bastards and noble blood. There’s obviously something a bit special about him in this story, and she locks in on that. So this season she tries to seduce him. That’s her power play. It’s going to be an interesting battle!

You talked last season how he’s always had a father figure until then, but now Stannis has come along. So whats that relationship like?

That was really interesting to me. He’s always had paternal figures, a patriarch. He’s aways had somebody giving him advice or mentoring him. Stannis comes along and you expect that to happen again. But it’s very much not that. Jon is sick and tired of that, he feels like he’s grown into a man and doesn’t want advice anymore. So right or wrong, when Stannis tries to give him advice, he pushes back from that. I almost played it as me, Kit, that I’m tired of having storylines like that and tried to feed that into that Jon and how it was written—that I’m not going to take advice from an older and more stately person.