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SYFY WIRE Game of Thrones

Go behind the scenes of the 'real' Castle Black with Game of Thrones star Kit Harington

By Christian Long
60 Minutes Game of Thrones Kit Harrington Anderson Cooper

We're officially one-sixth of the way through the final season of Game of ThronesIt's the beginning of the end for a memorable era in television, where an intricately plotted fantasy series with dozens of characters across multiple settings became a certified phenomenon.

On tonight's episode of 60 Minutes, which aired ahead tonight's premiere, Anderson Cooper walked around the set of Castle Black with star Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow. The set, which is outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, was built inside an old quarry on the side of a cliff. While some of the backdrop (including the Wall) is computer-generated, the heart of the set is very real, which helps give the sword-and-sorcery epic a sense of being grounded.

"Feels incredibly weird walking around as Kit, having done every inch of this as Jon Snow," the actor told Cooper as they strolled through the massive set. "These steps I've walked down a hundred times."

Afterward, Anderson, barely containing his own fandom, pointed out the spot where Jon Snow "sort of" died back in Season 5. "I did technically die, I just came back to life," Harington pointed out. Although a more accurate way of saying that would be that he was betrayed and murdered by the Night's Watch, but that's neither here nor there.

"You feel like this is an actual castle that's been around for hundreds of years," Cooper pointed out, which echoed Harington's point about the production's exceptional level of detail.

You can check out more of 60 Minutes' segments on Game of Thrones on their website here. In the meantime, SYFY WIRE will continue to bring you coverage as the epic HBO series brings an era of television to a (we presume) explosive finale.