They survived dragons, betrayals, and the Long Night—but nothing in Westeros prepared them for this. As press ramps up for the February 20 release of The Dreadful, Sophie Turner has stunned fans by revealing that one particular scene with Kit Harington was so uncomfortable it made them physically ill.
The problem wasn’t gore, darkness, or supernatural horror. It was a kiss.
After spending nearly a decade playing siblings Sansa Stark and Jon Snow on Game of Thrones, Turner and Harington were asked to do the unthinkable in their new project: portray romantic lovers. According to Turner, their bodies outright rejected the idea.
“That’s My Brother”
Turner, who also served as a producer on the film, was the one who initially approached Harington about joining the cast. At the time, she hadn’t fully clocked what the script demanded. That realization came later—and painfully.
In a recent interview, Turner recalled rereading the screenplay and suddenly noticing a pattern: kiss, kiss, intimate scene, repeat. The professional alarm bells didn’t ring at first. The personal ones did. “Oh, shoot,” she remembered thinking. “That’s my brother.”
While the two actors understood intellectually that they are not related and had never actually played biological siblings on the show, the emotional wiring was already locked in. Years of shared trauma scenes, late-night shoots, and off-screen friendship had cemented them as family in every way that mattered.
The Scene That Broke Them
The first day of filming their intimate scene shattered any illusion that they could simply “act through it.” Turner admitted that when cameras rolled, both she and Harington experienced an immediate physical reaction.
“We were both retching,” she said bluntly, describing the moment as “vile” and calling it “the worst” experience of her career. Crew members reportedly paused filming while the actors tried to regroup, suppressing laughter, gag reflexes, and sheer disbelief at the situation.
Harington later added his own layer of embarrassment, revealing he had to stand on an apple box to kiss Turner due to their height difference—an awkward logistical detail that only amplified the absurdity.
Horror, History, and a Stark Reunion
Set during the War of the Roses in 15th-century England, The Dreadful follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law Morwen, played by Marcia Gay Harden, as they survive on society’s fringes. Harington’s character, Jago, returns from Anne’s past, unleashing a dark chain of supernatural events.
Despite the infamous first kiss, both actors insist the reunion was overwhelmingly positive. Harington described the shoot as joyful, saying their friendship “ignited again” and that working together still felt like being with family.
Ironically, that unbreakable bond is exactly what made the scene unbearable.
In the end, The Dreadful delivered genuine horror—but not just on screen. For Turner and Harington, the most unsettling part wasn’t the gothic terror. It was proving that even years later, in their hearts, they’re still Starks.