Summary

Kit Harington revealed his King Arthur film didn’t happen due to a packed filming schedule, but he’s glad he had time to dedicate to
Game of Thrones
.
The movie
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
was eventually made, but was cancelled along with its planned sequels.
King Arthur movies struggle, but TV shows, like
The Winter King
, may be the character’s future.

Kit Harington has opened up about his scrapped King Arthur movie, revealing why he’s glad the film wasn’t made and how much it would have impacted his shooting schedule at the time. Harington is best known for his role as Jon Snow in Games of Thrones, having portrayed the major character throughout every season of the fantasy series. However, around the time he was filming, he was also in talks to star as King Arthur in a trilogy directed by David Dobkin.

Speaking with The Playlist on their podcast The Discourse, Harington revealed that he was glad his planned King Arthur movie didn’t end up happening, as it would have made for a hectic filming schedule. While the actor indicated he thought the project was a good idea, he’s grateful it didn’t go through in retrospect due to his role on the cast of Game of Thrones. Check out what Harington had to say about the canceled film below:

I think it was probably a blessing that it never happened. At the time, I remember it was me and Joel Kinnaman were playing Arthur and Lancelot and it was all set to go, and then it got pulled for various reasons. And it was a really good idea. I remember thinking it was crushing at the time, but then ‘Thrones’ kind of took off, so it was sort of drifting into the background of this massive juggernaut that was ‘Thrones.’ And actually, can you imagine if I did do it and I was spending six months doing Jon Snow and then six months playing Arthur? I think it was a real blessing, actually.

Related 12 Actors Who Played King Arthur In Movies & TV Shows, Ranked The legend of King Arthur has been reinvented countless times in movies and TV shows, with many actors bringing their own take to the character.

Will Another King Arthur Movie Ever Be Made?

Had the movie starring Harington been produced, it would have seen him in the lead role as Arthur, starring alongside Joel Kinneman as Lancelot, Gary Oldman as Merlin, and Liam Neeson as Galahad. While Warner Bros. ultimately shelved the project, Dobkin was later an executive producer for 2017’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, also with Warner Bros. attached. The film was a box office bomb that was supposed to be the start of a six-movie shared universe, ultimately halting attempts at a multi-movie adaptation.

Since then, there have been other examples of King Arthur appearing in various media. One of the latest examples is Iain De Caestecker’s portrayal in The Winter King, a TV series for MGM+ based on Bernard Cornwell’s The Warlord Chronicles trilogy. While it’s unclear if The Winter King season 2 is going to happen, this version of the character is the most recent, popular rendition in TV and film. It’s possible that, with so many movies having failed to gain traction, the future of the character will fare better on the small screen.

Given the inability for the King Arthur movie that was made to gain traction at the box office, Harington being able to stick with Game of Thrones was ultimately a good decision for his career. While the ending of the fantasy series may have been contentious, Jon is still considered a classic television hero, something helped by the amount of time the actor had to dedicate to the series. While it would have been interesting to see him as Arthur, it seems his dedication to the fantasy series was the best option at the time.

Other media featuring an adaptation of King Arthur include the animated film
The Sword in the Stone
and the TV series
Merlin
.

Source: The Playlist