They played siblings for years. Now they’re lovers on screen, and even they can’t handle it.

They played siblings for years. Now they’re lovers on screen, and even they can’t handle it.

They played siblings for years. Now they’re lovers on screen, and even they can’t handle it. Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, forever linked in the minds of millions as Sansa and Jon Stark from Game of Thrones, have reunited for the gothic horror film The Dreadful—but this time, the family tree has gotten considerably more complicated.

A behind-the-scenes video shared by Entertainment Tonight captures the awkwardness that comes when former onscreen siblings become onscreen lovers. The clip shows Turner, 29, and Harington, 39, kissing in character. The moment is professional, convincing, exactly what the scene requires. Then the director calls “cut,” and both actors immediately break into exaggerated retching, pretending to be sick from the experience. The crew erupts in laughter, recognizing what everyone secretly wondered: how strange must this be?

Turner addressed the weirdness head-on during a July 2025 interview with Vogue, jokingly apologizing to Game of Thrones fans. “It’s really weird for all of us,” she admitted. The apology acknowledged the cognitive dissonance of watching two characters who shared blood and family drama now sharing something entirely different.

The awkwardness continued on Late Night with Seth Meyers in August 2025. Turner, a mother of two, recalled reading the script for The Dreadful before filming and discovering page after page of intimate scenes. “Kiss, kiss, sex, kiss, sex,” she summarized, building to the realization that hit her like a ton of bricks. “I’m like, ‘Oh, shoot … that’s my brother.'” She confirmed that during filming, she and Harington were “both retching” between takes, their longtime friendship making the intimate work simultaneously easier and infinitely stranger.

Harington offered his own perspective on the challenges in November 2025, telling E! News about a practical complication no one had considered. “It was slightly embarrassing, having to get on an apple box to kiss her because she’s about a foot taller than me,” he said. The image of the former Jon Snow standing on a box to reach his former sibling turned lover captures the entire production’s surreal energy. “But other than that, my dignity was pretty intact,” he added drily.

The casting originated with Turner herself. In September 2024, she explained to The Times that she suggested Harington for the role when producers were searching for the right actor. “They were trying to find someone for that role, and I was like, ‘You can’t not have Kit,'” she said. The period setting around the Wars of the Roses, complete with flowing robes and dramatic clifftop scenes, felt familiar enough to make the collaboration natural despite the changed dynamic.

The Game of Thrones cast has remained remarkably close since the HBO fantasy drama concluded in 2019. Harington married costar Rose Leslie in 2018, and they share two children. Turner has maintained friendships throughout the ensemble, making this professional reunion with Harington an extension of existing bonds rather than a cold business arrangement. That warmth shows in the behind-the-scenes footage, where discomfort transforms quickly into shared laughter.

The Dreadful, directed by Natasha Kermani, also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence O’Fuarain, and Jonathan Howard. The gothic horror drama arrives in select theaters and on digital platforms Friday, Feb. 20. Audiences will finally see what happens when Sansa and Jon stop worrying about White Walkers and start worrying about something else entirely. Whether viewers can handle the transition better than the actors themselves remains to be seen. At least one thing is certain: the apple box will be credited somewhere.