One thing you can say about Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington, a.k.a. Jon Snow: The guy knows when to hook up with major entertainment franchises.
Harington was identified with Thrones for years but now he’s making the leap to another big fictional franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadline first reported a rumor that Harington was circling a Marvel property, then in followed up with an article revealed the news:
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has been confirmed to star in Marvel’s The Eternals, a day after Deadline broke the news he was headed for the MCU. Marvel boss Kevin Feige said Harington will play non-Eternal Dane Whitman in the pic, which now marks Harington’s next film. (…)
Harington, who played Jon Snow on GoT for eight seasons, now joins an Eternals cast that includes Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Don Lee and Gemma Chan.
Marvel describes The Eternals as “a race of god-like beings locked in a millennium-old conflict with the less evolved Deviants and their originators, the Celestials. Each Eternal has watched civilizations burgeon and die from their domain of Olympia – they are immortals blessed with strange, sometimes monstrous, powers.”
At Disney’s big (and eventful) D23 Expo, Marvel boss Kevin Feige brought the actors playing the immortal characters onstage and backed their appearances up with cover art depicting them as the characters they play.
Harington’s mortal character is also The Black Knight.
If you’re most familiar with the movies, the Knight is a lesser-known Marvel character. He’s had several storylines in Marvel comics and progressed from villain to even leading the Avengers at one point. He wields a sword forged by Merlin from a meteorite for Sir Percival of King Arthur’s Round Table.
It’s an oddly appropriate character for an actor so closely identified already with swords and dragon drama.
At the moment The Eternals is slated to premiere November 6, 2020.
