Kit Harrington has been talking about the infamous unseen pilot episode of Game Of Thrones – and how it just didn’t “feel” right. Whilst Game Of Thrones has grown to be a huge phenomenon, it initially looked dead on arrival after the pilot was shot. The show was a dream project for showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, and they assembled a great line-up of talent for the pilot, including director Tom McCarthy (Spotlight).

Despite this, the episode turned out to be something of a disaster; there were long, boring exposition scenes, none of the characters were likeable, and it was so confusing that test audiences didn’t even realize Jaime and Cersei were siblings. Thankfully HBO allowed the showrunners to go back and fix it, resulting in around 90% of it being reshot, which included hiring new actors for key roles, such as Emilia Clarke replacing original Daenerys actress Tamzin Merchant.

Related: Game Of Thrones: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Unseen Pilot Episode

Both Weiss and Benioff have often spoken of the failings of the episode, and now Jon Snow himself, Kit Harrington, has opened up about it an interview with The Guardian. According to the actor, "They made a lot of mistakes. It didn’t look right, didn’t feel right, had nothing different about it." While he confesses to having never actually seen the offending episode, the showrunners occasionally like to taunt him with it. "They say, if I ever p*** them off too much, they’ll release it on YouTube. Every now and then, they send me a screengrab, just as a threat."

In spite of the pilot’s reputation, there’s no doubt Game Of Thrones fans would still watch it eagerly – if for no other reason than to see how bad it truly is. Various details about the episode have been revealed over the years, including a flashback scene where the Mad King Aerys murders Ned Stark’s father Rickard and brother Brandon, a completely different credits sequence and a full reveal of the White Walkers in the opening sequence.

To date, the pilot hasn’t been made available to the public in any form, and while it might eventually find its way onto Blu-ray as a bonus feature after the show wraps up, there’s also a chance it will remain buried. Weiss and Benioff still sound traumatized by the reaction to it, so unless Harrington genuinely does do something to tick them off, they’d likely prefer the Game Of Thrones pilot remain locked away in a HBO dungeon.

Next: Game Of Thrones: When Will Season 8 Premiere?

Source: The Guardian