First Look At Kit Harington In Paul W.S. Anderson‘s Pompeii

Thanks to EW, we now have our first look at Game of Thrones star Kit Harington in Paul W.S. Anderson’s upcoming film, Pompeii. Shedding his fur coats and showing off some more skin, the 3D period epic will have the actor playing Milo, a “slave turned gladiator who falls for a beautiful upper-class woman named Cassia (Emily Browning).”

Of course, as you can probably guess by the title, the film is set in the days leading up to the now famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Check out what Harington had to say about his role below:

“This is the first scene you see me in. It’s set in London, in fact, and it’s a scene where my character is a gladiator fighting in an arena. That’s his gladiator look. It’s a great little fight against three masked gladiators and sets up who he is and where he’s going. You see me display my skills quite early on. It’s a costume I don’t actually wear for the rest of the film, but it’s an establishing one,” Harington adds.

“The differences between this and Game of Thrones, and why I was interested in the role, were that Milo is completely set on vengeance rather than honor and justice. He’s an angry, angry man who doesn’t care what he does. For a large part of the film, he’s driven by pure rage.”

Co-starring with Harrington are Jared Harris (who plays Cassia’s father) and Kiefer Sutherland, who stars in the villain role as a Roman senator. Carrie-Anne Moss and Paz Vega are also on board.

Until we see some footage from this one, I’ll reserve my judgement. I do like Harington, and the supporting cast is solid too, but Anderson doesn’t have the best track record and the whole romance plot doesn’t really interest me. Hopefully the volcano’s eruption and Milo’s quest for vengeance, as well as his time in the ring, take more of the spotlight than the other elements of the film.

Pompeii arrives in theatres on February 21, 2014. Check out the first still below and let us know what you think.