Kit Harington hopes people don’t think ‘Game of Thrones’ is sexist after killing off Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen.
The 32-year-old actor admitted he was worried about a backlash because of the deaths of the two queens – who were played by Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke respectively – but insisted that, just because they were female, it didn’t make them "goodies".
He said: "One of my worries with this is we have Cersei and Dany, two leading women, who fall.
"The justification is: Just because they’re women, why should they be the goodies? They’re the most interesting characters in the show. And that’s what Thrones has always done. You can’t just say the strong women are going to end up the good people. Dany is not a good person. It’s going to open up discussion but there’s nothing done in this show that isn’t truthful to the characters. And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?"
With Daenerys ruthlessly burning down King’s Landing and its citizens in the fifth episode of the series, Kit’s alter ego, Jon Snow stabbed her in the heart to prevent her killing any other innocents, and while the actor expected the plot to "divide" viewers, he also hoped it made fans question themselves and why they had spent so many years supporting someone who did such "terrible" things.
He told Entertainment Weekly: "I think it’s going to divide. But if you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things. She crucifies people. She burns people alive. This has been building.
"So, we have to say to the audience: ‘You’re in denial about this woman as well. You knew something was wrong. You’re culpable, you cheered her on.’"
Kit Harington feared show sexism criticism
