It’s three hours before the curtain goes up on night two of Slave Play at the Noël Coward Theatre in London, and soon enough Kit Harington will be onstage playing an overseer in Jeremy O. Harris’ provocative play, stripping full-frontal naked in the third act. Yet he’s notably tranquil right now. Perhaps it’s because the reviews are in, and they’re smashing.
Harington is leaving Jon Snow in the dust, in other words, and the same goes for his upcoming role in the third season of Industry, HBO’s breakneck plunge into the cutthroat world of London investment banking. After work, he goes home to his three-and-a-half-year-old son, one-year-old daughter, and his wife, former Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie. Below, our inaugural ELLE Man touches upon all of this, then fields our questions about the work that fuels him and our favorite subject: women.
This is your sixth play—any extra butterflies this time because of what this particular show requires you to say and do?
Certainly the first day of rehearsal, yes. And [with this play] you never come offstage with any sense of elation, like you do with most plays. With this one, you come off feeling like you need to rid yourself of something. We check in as actors with each other before and after the show, because the words we’re saying on this stage are words that you would never utter anywhere else.
I promise I’ve got serious questions about Industry, but I have to begin with a certain sexual proclivity of your character, Sir Henry Muck. He has a, shall we say, yen for urine. Did you learn about this before you signed on to the role?
[Laughs] I think it’s alluded to in the first two scripts, which was all I received when I was signing up for it, and then comes to the fore a little bit later. I thought it was great. [Laughs] People have kinks! This play I’m doing right now is all about that in many ways, and in drama we should, if it’s the right place, discuss them. And who am I to say no or shy away from a character who has those kinks? There is one particular scene I thought was going to land in a completely different way and be kind of ridiculous, but, to me, it actually ended up being strangely romantic.
What do you think those scenes are meant to tell us about who Henry is?
Sometimes entitlement is portrayed in a way that the person who’s entitled knows they are. He might know on a surface level, but deeply he doesn’t really believe or know he’s entitled. And so he uses therapy talk over the women around him to manipulate them into places. He starts up this company, which ends up abusing the populace and taking money out of people’s pockets, and then makes a great gain from it. He’s a very interesting portrayal of a modern entitled man.
This new season of Industry seems emblematic of a cultural shift in the use of nudity onscreen—less female nudity and more male nudity. This also seems like a contrast between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. What do you make of that?
I think the swing back to looking at nudity from the male perspective is actually a really good one. I’m currently in a play where I completely strip off and go full-frontal nudity. And in Industry, I get pretty nude as well. But it is my personal choice. And I think that’s what it comes down to: No actor should feel any pressure to do any nudity. For me, I don’t mind. I’m not one of those people who subscribe to the thought of, like, ‘Well, now it’s the men’s turn.’ But if the script deserves it—and I think with Henry, it certainly does. He’s peacocking. He’s trying to get this girl, he’s showing his bits. I think it’s appropriate.
Have there been moments in your career, maybe even still, where you felt objectified by women?
Yeah, I certainly have. I still don’t like it when I see young male actors described in articles as heartthrobs or hunks, because it’s not appropriate. It does minimize what they’re doing. And I have experienced at the stage door, or on the street in life, objectification by women. It’s just kind of a fact, and it’s not comfortable.
Aside from your mother, name a woman whom you admired when you were growing up.
Emma Thompson. She’s just an emotionally incredible actress and a very, very, very smart woman who’s written and produced. She was sort of an idol of mine.
Name a female singer you can’t help but sing along with.
[Laughs] God, I’m going to sound so poncy. Joni Mitchell. Stevie Nicks on “Landslide.” What’s the name of the Joni Mitchell song that plays in one of the scenes with Emma in Love Actually, when she goes upstairs? “Both Sides Now.”
Tell me about the first time you got dumped.
Wow. I got dumped by Emma Moore because—in the UK, we have a charity day, where you come in wearing a non-school uniform. And the theme was 1970s hippies. I came in wearing socks and sandals, and she sent someone over to me to dump me and I cried. I said, “Why?” And she said, “Because you’re wearing socks with sandals.” There you go.
How old were you?
I can’t remember, but probably too old to cry or wear socks with sandals.
What would 37-year-old, father of a daughter Kit Harington think of 23-year-old, budding star Kit Harington?
Oh, I’d be very wary of him. I look back now at how full of myself I was. Underneath, totally insecure. But [points at his chin] from here up, just full of beans, full of myself. And if that boy walked through the door hand in hand with my daughter…I think there would be a few careful words said to him. Which he wouldn’t listen to.
You’ve described yourself in the past as someone who experiences strong emotions. What has your wife taught you about managing your emotions?
My wife is—I don’t think there is anyone in the world like her. She’s truly unique in her kindness and her empathy. She’s a true empath, and when I’m feeling something strongly, she feels it with me.
No matter how much gender equity we achieve, what is something that a man should always do for a woman?
Always sleep on the door side of the room. It’s something I always do. Just on the off chance there’s an intruder.
Last question: You have a long car trip to take. Aside from your wife, out of all your female costars over the years, who are you bringing along for company?
Gwendoline Christie. I mean, if you met Gwen for five minutes, she’d be on that car journey with you. How many seats do I get?
You can put some folks in the back, sure.
Emilia Clarke and Tuppence Middleton. I’ve known Tuppence for years, and she makes me hoot with laughter. And Emilia Clarke is just—she’s my honey. We’ve gone a long road together, and we would travel along one together.
A version of this article appears in the September 2024 issue of ELLE.
Devin Gordon is a writer based in Brookline, Massachusetts, and the author of So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin' True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports.
