A new show would’ve explored what happened to Jon Snow after the events of Game of Thrones.
here was a new Game of Thrones show in the works—a sequel series centered around Kit Harington’s Jon Snow, focusing on what happened to the character after the events of Game of Thrones season eight. But, according to Harington, it’s no longer happening.
“There are no plans for it at the moment. It’s off the table for the foreseeable [future],” the actor told the Associated Press this week.
Yet, just because it’s currently “off the table” doesn’t mean it’s never happening—never say never! On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in January 2023, Harington joked, “I walk down the street and I get recognized a little less nowadays, and it kind of hurts my ego, you know? I’m pretty close to like putting on some furs. I got a tally in my head of how few photos I get asked for in a day. And when it gets below a certain number, I think I’ll do a spin-off.”
Here’s everything we know about the potential Jon Snow spinoff.
The working title of the show was Snow.
“Yes, there is a Jon Snow show in development,” Thrones author George R. R. Martin wrote on his blog after the news came out in 2022. “Our working title for the show is SNOW.”
In the final season, Snow discovered his name was Aegon Targaryen, that he was possibly an heir to the Iron Throne. Yet, he was exiled from Westeros and journeyed north of the Wall with the Wildlings in the finale. As the show is set after the events of Game of Thrones, all surviving characters could ostensibly make a cameo in the new series.
Martin also revealed that Kit Harington brought the idea to HBO, a fact which Harington’s former co-star Emilia Clarke confirmed. “It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up,” Clarke told the BBC. “So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.”
Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss told The Hollywood Reporter spoke about the sequel possibility in January 2024. “It would be so great; nothing would make us happier than to work with our people from that show,” Weiss said. “But there are a lot of other ways to make that happen that are fresh and exciting for everyone involved. Also, unless [Kit Harington] has been doing a lot of working out, that’s a really heavy cloak for a guy in his 40s to carry around — it’s like 60 pounds.”
They joked it may be better when more time has passed from the Thrones finale. “Maybe when we’re 80 and Kit’s approaching retirement. He can throw that cloak on again with real gray in his beard,” Weiss said.
It would pick up where the events of Thrones left off.
“I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly,” Harington said during a panel at a Game of Thrones convention in December 2020, according to Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
Harington continues, “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 that, that’s interesting. 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.”
Several Game of Thrones cast members have weighed in on the spinoff.
“Everything surrounding the story [of GOT] is very exciting. We had such a rich show, and there’s still so much story to tell,” Maisie Williams, who played Arya Stark, shared. “I think it’s really exciting, and I think that Kit is such a phenomenal actor. Him playing Jon Snow was just like a cultural reset. I think everything that he touches is magic, and I’m excited to see what it’s going to be.” Williams didn’t rule out an appearance in Snow. “It’s obviously a very exciting prospect,” she said, “so never say never.”
Similarly, Gwendoline Christie, who portrayed Brienne of Tarth, would love to return. “Brienne of Tarth is incredibly close to my heart, and I would relish any opportunity to revisit her. I believe she is enduring,” she said.
John Bradley, the actor who played Jon Snow’s pal Samwell Tarley, also wants to be involved. “I haven’t spoken to anybody about the potential Jon Snow prequel, but if somebody wants to send a script my way I’d be interested to read it,” Bradley said.
Yet, there’s one former cast member who is out: Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, does not anticipate returning, telling BBC, “I think I’m done.” In another interview, she said, “Kit, I love you! I’m going to watch that one because of you, or I am gonna tell you I did.”
This Jon Snow show would be yet another Game of Thrones spinoff.
The first, House of the Dragon, about the House of Targaryen is set two centuries before the events in Game of Thrones, premiered in August 2022, and a second season is coming this spring.
There are three other spinoffs in various stages of development: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, set about 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones and centering on a knight called Ser Duncan the Tall, “Dunk,” and his squire, “Egg” (the future king Aegon V Targaryen); The Sea Snake, about the nine voyages at sea made by Corlys Velaryon aboard his ship, “the Sea Snake”; and Ten Thousand Ships, “a reference to the journey made by warrior queen Princess Nymeria and the surviving members of the Rhoynars, who travelled from Essos to Dorne following their defeat by the Valyrian Freehold in the Second Spice War,” per Deadline. SNOW has been in development as long as the other three, according to Martin.
HBO doesn’t seem to plan on stopping Game of Thrones spinoffs anytime soon; there are also three animated spinoff prequels in the works, including The Golden Empire, set in the land of Yi Ti. “George R.R. Martin’s world is so big and what’s interesting about it, not only is it big but he’s got a lot of road maps in terms of history,” HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys told Deadline. “So, one of the great things about House of the Dragon is that’s an established history that leads you to Game of Thrones the show, and there is a lot of little branches. There is a lot of opportunities and stories to tell.”
