Turns out, however, this isn’t just because Harington has an idea, unlike Daenerys, that the two characters are secretly related. The actor has previously said the kissing scenes were rather uncomfortable to film.
“Emilia and I had been best friends over a seven-year period and by the time we had to kiss, it seemed really odd,” he recently told the Daily Mirror.
"Emilia, Rose [Leslie, Harington’s wife and former Thrones co-star] and I are good friends, so even though you’re actors and it’s your job, there’s an element of weirdness when the three of us are having dinner and we had a kissing scene that day.”
Don’t worry, though: the feeling is mutual between the stars. “The first scene we had together we both just started laughing,” Clarke told Variety about the pair’s steamy on-camera moments. “Why are you looking at me this strange way and saying these strange lines? You’re my friend!”
She also revealed Harington pretended to retch after their first kissing scene. “Oh my god, mate. You’re not making this any easier!” Clarke apparently said.
But it looks like Harington got his comeuppance for his on-set heaving. While filming episode one’s dragon-rising scene, the actor got one of his, ahem, Snowballs caught in a mechanical buck.
“The 'dragon' swings around really violently, and my right [testicle] got trapped, and I didn’t have time to say ‘Stop!’ and I was being swung around.
“In my head, I thought, ‘This is how it ends, on this buck, swinging me around by the testicles, literally.’”
Here's hoping Harington doesn’t have too many more scenes on Rhaegal’s back – for the sake of his poor astrolabes, anyway.
Game of Thrones continues Sundays at 2am or Mondays at 9pm on Sky Atlantic
