Even Jon Snow actor Kit Harington was surprised by the ending of Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3

Image credit: HBO

*SPOILERS AHEAD* If you haven't seen Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3, this story will spoil the crap out of the ending for you.

I don't know, put spoons over your eyes or something.

Or maybe just click away now. 

You've been warned!

Games of Thrones season 8 episode 3, The Long Night, threw everyone for a loop - including many of the actors behind it. As Entertainment Weekly reports, the episode's finale, which saw Arya slay the Night King exactly as the Red Woman prophesied, was as surprising to Kit Harington (Jon Snow) as it was to viewers. 

"I was surprised. I thought it was gonna be me!", Harington told Entertainment Weekly. "But I like it. It gives Arya’s training a purpose to have an end goal. It’s much better how she does it the way she does it. I think it will frustrate some in the audience that Jon’s hunting the Night King and you’re expecting this epic fight and it never happens - that’s kind of Thrones. But it’s the right thing for the characters. There’s also something about it not being the person you expect. The young lady sticks it to the man."

For her part, Maisie Williams (Arya) said she was initially worried the victory would be too surprising and upset some fans. "The hardest thing is in any series is when you build up a villain that’s so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them," she said. "It has to be intelligently done because otherwise people are like, ‘Well, [the villain] couldn’t have been that bad when some 100-pound girl comes in and stabs him.’ You gotta make it cool."

In the end, however, Williams also rallied around the idea of Arya finally claiming a major win in one of the show's big battles. "It all comes down to this one very moment," she said. "It’s also unexpected and that’s what this show does. So then I was like, 'Fuck you Jon, I get it!'" 

Speaking of reactions: here's how the internet at large felt about the Battle of Winterfell. I'll give you a hint: passionately. 

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.