Kit Harington to play the monster in new Mary Shelley biopic

In January, we heard that a new biopic about Mary Shelley was in the works, focusing on “a dangerous battle with her own ‘inner monster’” as she tries to write Frankenstein. It would’ve been easy to assume at the time that we were exclusively talking about a metaphorical monster, like depression or a Babadook, but apparently this monster will take on some sort of physical presence in the film—and that physical presence is going to look an awful lot like Jon Snow.

That’s because Variety says that Kit Harington has joined the cast of Mary’s Monster as the eponymous monster, with the actor saying in a statement that he’s “relishing the idea of depicting the unique part of The Monster,” which is “an embodiment of Mary Shelley’s psyche.” So, unlike the 2018 Mary Shelley film with Elle Fanning, this is going to be a movie about the woman who wrote Frankenstein that actually has a Frankenstein(’s monster). Also, we have to point out here that Harington looks a lot like Percy Bysshe Shelley, so if you came into this news story thinking “he should be playing Percy Shelley,” congratulations on joining us in being a big enough nerd to know what Percy Bysshe Shelley looked like.

But no, Shelley’s husband will be played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from CODA, who also looks enough like the guy that we’re willing to let it slide, with Sebastian De Souza from Normal People playing Lord Byron (y’know, he also looks a little like Kit Harington… is it just that they’re pale British guys with dark hair?). Shelley herself will be played by Clara Gugaard from I Am Mother, and the film will be directed by Farren Blackburn (who hyped this up as “THE defining period from for the modern YA generation”) from a script by Deborah Baxtrom and Stephen Hallett.