by Gill Pringle
The British actor discusses his new role in Industry: Season 3, one of his fave shows on the tele.
Audiences fell in love with Kit Harington’s Jon Snow on Game of Thrones – making the role a tough act to follow after starring in the beloved series for eight years.
But that’s not all, Game of Thrones was even responsible for introducing him to his future wife, actress Rose Leslie who played Ygritte in the series.
Together for 13 years, the couple tied the knot in 2017 and now have a three-year-old son and 15-month-old daughter.
While Kit has since starred in Netflix series Criminal: UK and Apple TV+’s Extrapolations, HBO’s sex and money series Industry marks his return to the small screen after five years.
The son of businessman and baronet, Sir David Harington, Kit’s latest role as Sir Henry Muck, is a role not too far removed from his own aristocratic pedigree.
“I’ve known a lot of people like Henry. I’ve met a lot of them and I think what I found fascinating about him was that he can’t see his own privilege, amazingly. He might say he does, but he can’t see it.
“He’s kind of within this net of privilege that he can’t see out of and can’t see how he’s held. And yet, at the same time, within that little gilded cage, these horrific things have happened in his life,” says the actor who is a distant descendant of King James I and Lord Harington of Exton.
“I thought that was a fascinating place to start with and explore someone in that place of privilege. Yet, they’re deeply, deeply, deeply not happy and don’t know who they are. I also found the idea of someone charming and yet threatening a really fun one to play.
“And we had this joke going about how many times he uses the word ‘vulnerable’ in the show. He’s that modern guy who’s gone to therapy and understands fully that the world has changed and that he, as a man, has to change with it, but will now manipulate women with therapy chat. But he can’t see it. I just thought that this was a wonderful character to get on board with,” says Kit who surely knows what he’s talking about having himself checked into a mental health and wellness facility in 2019 to seek help for “some personal issues”, later opening up about his struggles with anxiety and alcoholism.
Portraying the somewhat arrogant CEO of a green energy company Lumi, Kit’s Sir Henry offloads the day-to-day tasks to his overburdened assistant Robert (Harry Lawtey).
“I think their relationship is fascinating because of their background, this season being, in so many ways, about the British class system,” says Kit, 37, talking from New York.
“Me and Harry spoke about this, how they sort of love and hate each other. And I think that goes right back to their class, Robert, being from a working class background, and Henry being from a more aristocratic, upper class background.
“And traditionally in the UK, those two class systems tend to join forces and like each other in their mutual hatred of the middle class. And I thought that was useful for us going through; that we kind of loved and hated each other in that way,” he adds.
Kit was already a fan of the first two seasons of Industry, thrilled when he was offered a role in Season Three.
“I thought it was utterly unique,” he says, actively discouraging any comparison to other popular shows.
“I actually don’t like it being compared to other shows. I know we do it all the time, but being compared to Succession and Euphoria and all of that, when it’s its own thing. I thought it was entirely unique as a show and that’s why I jumped at the chance to be in it.
“I think my main challenge was to try and come in and not ruin it. Not be the guy that comes in and is like, ‘it just doesn’t work now!’” he laughs.
“I’d seen all of this cast’s performances and been blown away by all of them individually. I knew I was going to be in very good company. It’s whether I could match that company and fit in the right way.”
Sharing most of his scenes with Harry Lawtey, he says of his co-star, “We’ve got quite a bromance going. It got going quite quickly.
“I like taking photos of Harry. I’ve got a lot of photos of Harry. He’s a very good looking man,” he says of the The Pale Blue Eye star who will also feature in Joker: Folie a Deux.
But the real clincher for Kit was Industry’s Season 1 finale where Ben Lloyd-Hughes’ Greg Grayson parties too hard and runs into a glass door.
“That just sums it up for me. It’s this brilliant, brutal, horrific moment that’s kind of comedic and strange – and takes your knees out. You’re like, ‘What the hell is going on? I thought I knew what was going on with the show and now a guy in the background has just run headfirst into a glass wall and is seriously injured?’ That is what’s brilliant about Industry for me.”
Industry is streaming now on Binge
