Pompeii news has been rushing out like hot lava lately. The Paul WS Anderson, film set around the real life 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, revealed the first look at star Kit Harington earlier this week, and now has debuted the teaser trailer.

Harington, who plays slave-turned-gladiator Milo, talked to Entertainment Weekly about his role, how it compares to his Game of Thrones character Jon Snow and some costume specifics.

“Milo is a Celt who is enslaved when he is a child and his family is killed," Harington said. "There’s a time cut that happens in the movie where you see me go from a child to a man, and you realize he’s been a gladiator for a long time. Eventually he’s taken to Pompeii." While in the ill-fated city Milo falls in love with Cassia (Emily Browning), a woman of higher social standing. “It follows their story till the volcano erupts,” the actor teased. “There are some beautiful scenes in there.”

“This is the first scene you see me in," Harington said of the initial image. "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.” Regarding the dudes, he added, “It’s a costume I don’t actually wear for the rest of the film, but it’s an establishing one.”

After noting that Milo and Jon Snow both share a deftness with a sword and a penchant for brooding, the actor pointed out how the characters' differences appealed to him. “The differences, and why I was interested in the role, were that Milo is completely set on vengeance rather than honor and justice,” Harington said. “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.”

Pompeii, which also stars Carrie-Ann Moss, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kiefer Sutherland and Paz Vega, opens Feb 21, 2014.