There was never any question of whether or not HBO would return to Westeros. The only question was often the network would. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire features thousands of years of backstories and lore spread across multiple continents. But one thing seemed certain about any potential Game of Thrones spinoff – it would be a prequel. Well, we can forget that. A new report says HBO is developing a Jon Snow sequel series with Kit Harington returning for the Game of Thrones spinoff.
The Hollywood Reporter‘s James Hibberd, author of the behind-the-scenes Game of Thrones book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, has proven just how true that is. According to him, HBO is currently developing a show about Jon Snow set after the hit HBO series. That’s if the series moves forward. The working title for this Jon Snow spinoff is Snow. We also learned from Emilia Clarke that this idea comes from Kit Harington (George R.R. Martin confirmed it; he’ll be a producer on the series). She told the BBC:
It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up. So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.
Recently, HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi have a brief update on the status of this spinoff, noting: “We’re just working deeply… to get it in shape for a potential greenlight, but at this point, no, no determination on whether it can go all the way.”
In Jon Snow’s final moments, he went to live beyond the Wall with the wildlings. But considering his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, rightful heir to Westeros, it’s easy to imagine why he’d return. Events in the Seven Kingdoms could result in him returning south. That would also make it possible for any and all surviving characters from Game of Thrones to return.
When asked, Harington dodged around giving too much information out about the Jon Snow spinoff, but in many ways, he set the scene for how Jon Snow could return in a new Game of Thrones show. According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor shared:
I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly… At the end of the show, when we find him in that cell, he’s preparing to be beheaded and he wants to be. He’s done. The fact he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse. He’s gotta go back up to the place with all this history and live out his life thinking about how he killed Dany, and live out his life thinking about Ygritte dying in his arms, and live out his life thinking about how he hung Olly and live out his life thinking about all of this trauma.
And all of that, the actor concluded, is “interesting.” We won’t read too much into it, but we’ve hard that shows often need an interesting base of ideas. Harington concluded by saying, “So I think where we leave him at the end of the show, there’s always this feeling of like… I think we wanted some kind of little smile that things are okay. He’s not okay.” But hopefully, if Snow does make it onto HBO, Jon Snow will find some kind of peace in the spinoff. Or not; this is Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragon, a prequel set 150 years before Thrones, premiered on HBO in August. This latest project is merely the latest of the many—and we do mean many—other Game of Thrones spinoffs HBO is currently considering. However, Snow is the first spinoff that would take place after the main Game of Thrones series. It would completely upend what was always promised to be the end of that story.
Would HBO have ever considered a sequel if the original show’s final two seasons had proven more successful with fans? It’s easy to say no, but wildly popular IPs have a tendency to rise from the dead again and again, like Beric Dondarrion. And since Jon Snow himself came back from the grave once, we really shouldn’t be that surprised that his spinoff show may surface as well.
Originally published on June 17, 2022.
