--- title: This 'Game of Thrones' Star Almost Played Jon Snow description: It could have been a very different show canonical: https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-26T20:25:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:52.672Z og:title: This 'Game of Thrones' Star Almost Played Jon Snow og:description: It could have been a very different show og:url: https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefb901024bef0473/69888e49428a9eff91cd222b/hbo-game-of-thrones-john-snow.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: HBO-game-of-thrones-john-snow og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This 'Game of Thrones' Star Almost Played Jon Snow twitter:description: It could have been a very different show twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefb901024bef0473/69888e49428a9eff91cd222b/hbo-game-of-thrones-john-snow.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Game of Thrones_ Star Almost Played Jon Snow by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 26, 2016 8:25 PM UTC  Helen Sloan—HBO by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 26, 2016 8:25 PM UTC Thanks to [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4306039/review-game-of-thrones-season-premiere/), actor Iwan Rheon has become almost indelibly intertwined with the character he plays—the sadistic Ramsay Bolton. Over the last few seasons, Ramsay has tortured Theon Greyjoy into near-oblivion and raped and tortured Sansa Stark after forcing her into marriage. His character is so loathsome that when _The Atlantic_ asked readers to vote on [“the actual worst character on television](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/ramsay-bolton-is-the-actual-worst/418842/)” he won over _Hannibal’s_ cannibalistic sociopath Hannibal Lecter and, perhaps even more shocking, he was more loathed than _Game of Thrones’_ despicable boy king, Joffrey Baratheon. But things could have been very different in Westeros for Rheon. In recent articles in both the [_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/arts/television/ramsay-bolton-of-game-of-thrones-is-the-most-hated-man-on-tv.html) and [_Interview_](http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/iwan-rheon/#%5F) it was revealed that Rheon originally auditioned to play someone else entirely—[Jon Snow](http://time.com/4261409/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-death-script/?iid=sr-link1). As any _Game of Thrones_ fan can attest, Rheon didn’t get the job. Instead, the role went to Kit Harington, who has become the living embodiment of the “dead” Jon Snow, the[ supposedly felled](http://time.com/4196104/kit-harington-jon-snow-dead-alive-game-of-thrones/) Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and the son of Ned Stark, fallen Lord of Winterfell. “It could’ve been so different,” Rheon told _Interview_. “I’d be dead now!” While Rheon may not have gotten the part, he did make a lasting impression during his audition. When it came time to cast the show’s most malevolent character, the producers called him up to join the show in season three. It’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone but Harington in the role, now, and Rheon seems to agree. “I think they made the right choice,” he told [_Interview_](http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/iwan-rheon/#%5F)_._ “It would’ve been a very different Jon Snow if I’d played him.” As a silver lining, on _Game of Thrones_ Ramsay has managed to [outlive Jon Snow](http://time.com/3921103/game-of-thrones-jon-snow/?iid=sr-link2), meaning Rheon still has work, while Harington is [on the job market](http://mashable.com/2016/04/26/kit-harington-parody-mencap-audition/#VtLgk34AyEqh). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/"},"headline":"This Game of Thrones Star Almost Played Jon Snow","datePublished":"2016-04-26T20:25:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:52.672Z","description":"It could have been a very different show","url":"https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","Kit Harington","Jon Snow"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefb901024bef0473/69888e49428a9eff91cd222b/hbo-game-of-thrones-john-snow.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefb901024bef0473/69888e49428a9eff91cd222b/hbo-game-of-thrones-john-snow.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HBO-game-of-thrones-john-snow","caption":"","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4308146/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-iwan-rheon-kit-harington/","name":"This Game of Thrones Star Almost Played Jon Snow"}}]}] ```