Kit Harington is moving on from Game of Thrones by joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and there’s a strong case for making him the MCU’s Wolverine. Following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios is now in possession of the X-Men. With Kevin Feige now overseeing the next big-screen iteration of the mutants, one of the most challenging tasks that they’ll face is in casting decisions, especially for characters that feel intrinsically linked to certain actors.

For as much flack as Fox’s X-Men movies received, the one area that they repeatedly knocked out of the park was casting. From the very beginning, they nailed the casting of Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellen as Magneto. They even successfully recast younger versions of them with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender respectively. But the X-Men movies’ most iconic bit of casting is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He was far from an obvious choice at the time due to his inexperience and tall stature, but he went on to make for a great version of the character.

Now that Marvel Studios is set to reboot the X-Men franchise and bring mutants into the MCU, whoever they get to take on the adamantium-infused character will have big shoes to fill. Even though Marvel could go with an unknown, the smarter move would be to attach a known actor to the part that can immediately give fans an idea of what they’ll bring to the role. It was revealed that Kit Harington has been added to the MCU in a super-secret role shortly before Marvel Studios discussed their movie slate at D23 2019. There are several announced films that he could play a part in, but the perfect role for Jon Snow is as the MCU’s Wolverine.

One of the easiest ways that Marvel Studios can both differentiate their version of Wolverine from Jackman’s and be faithful to the comics is embracing his small, stocky frame. Wolverine is only 5'3 in the comics, while Jackman stands at a more traditional superhero height of 6'3. Harington is 5'8, so he’s the happy medium between the two portrayals. It would make Wolverine the height of characters like Spider-Man or Captain Marvel in the MCU, and not on par with Thor or Black Panther. But Harington would make for a great Wolverine for more reasons than just his height.

As touched on before, Harington is a widely recognizable actor thanks to his ascending role as Jon Snow on HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. He has the gruff voice and the right look needed to pull off playing Wolverine, whether it is with the spiked hair or (hopefully) in a traditional X-Men suit. With his intensity and acting ability (combined with everything else), it’s no wonder that Harington has long been a fan-favorite choice to play Wolverine. And at just 32 years old, he is young enough to play the character for a decade, which is likely what Marvel Studios will want out of the popular X-Men character.

With his role expected to be confirmed during Marvel Studios’ part of the Disney movie D23 panel, it may not be too long before Harington’s role is revealed. The biggest potential holdup with him playing Wolverine is whether or not Marvel is ready to integrate the mutants into the MCU. But, after possibly losing Spider-Man, announcing the X-Men and who is playing Wolverine would be one major way to add more excitement for the future and distract fans for the time being. Plus, if Harington isn’t going to be announced as Wolverine, it becomes more difficult to place him as he is worthy of a leading role after Game of Thrones. Moon Knight could have been an option, but then he probably would’ve been announced when the show was. So, since Harington has everything one could hope for to play Wolverine, let’s just hope that’s what his role is when it is revealed.

MORE: Marvel Theory: MCU’s Mutants Won’t Be Called X-Men

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