Kit Harington has spoken about the toll Game of Thrones took on his mental health, saying he took a year off work after the HBO fantasy series concluded.
The 34-year-old British actor, who played central character Jon Snow in the show, said his years inhabiting the intense role affected him off-screen.
He told SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show: "I went through some mental health difficulties after Thrones, and during the end of Thrones, to be honest.
"I think it was directly due to the nature of the show and what I had been doing for years."
Harington said he made the decision to take a career break after Game of Thrones ended, before returning to work with one episode of the anthology series Modern Love.
"I took a break after Thrones where I was like 'I don't want to work for a year, I want to really concentrate on myself.' I'm really happy I did that," the actor explained.
"Coming back to work and deciding what to choose, you couldn't predict the pandemic, so just when I was wanting to come back to work the pandemic hit, so I was like 'oh for God's sake'.
"Doing this Modern Love episode was a bit like, you don't have to live in that intense place all the time. Why don't you do something that takes the weight off? Why don't you do something fun? I think that was part of my thinking on this one."
