Marvel fans know the deal by now: in the MCU, things take time. Thanos didn’t bring the Infinity Stones together overnight, and it took over a decade for certain character arcs to come full circle in Avengers: Endgame.
It’s no different for Marvel Studios’ newest movie Eternals and its most decidedly non-super of heroes, ordinary human Dane Whitman (Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington).
Comic fans may know better, of course. In those pages, Whitman has a storied legacy, including wielding the all-powerful Ebony Sword and taking on his uncle’s Black Knight mantle. But it doesn’t appear as if we’re getting to that on the big screen for the time being.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Harington discusses past, present, and future with Marvel, including a behind-the-scenes journey involving early preliminary talks with Kevin Feige years before he was cast in Eternals.
"I had a meeting with Kevin a couple of years prior to getting the call about this part," Harington reveals. "It was more a chat about [how] we’re starting this new Phase and we might be interested in you [being] in it. That was a very nice meeting to have."
Harington continues: "Then I got a call from Nate Moore the producer and had a chat with [director Chloe Zhao] subsequently about Dane about the fact that, in this movie, he is a human character and is not part of the Eternals. He represents humanity, but there would hopefully be a trajectory for him into the future – and they sort of explained what that might be, but really not much."
Surprisingly, Harington was left to his own devices – and search engines – to get the skinny on what might occur down the line for Dane Whitman.
"It was sort of ‘Google this character, have a look, see what you think’. If that happens, great – but in this movie you’re this thing," Harington says.
Harington even admits that he was always focused on the here and now when playing Dane Whitman in Eternals.
"I very much went on ‘What is my role?’ and ‘Who am I supporting?’. As far as setting up a character for the future, it was important to me that my character not be something I’ve played before, so that I’m starting from a place that is different to previous characters."
He adds, "That place – for this movie and a possible future for [Dane] – is a place where he’s got a lightness to him, a sense of humour, and a light touch."
Eternals is out in cinemas on November 5. For more from the MCU, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4 and a rundown of the Black Knight's comic history.
