Game Of Thrones Creators Respond To Jon Snow Sequel Show (& Reveal Whether They’d Work On It)
Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss weigh in on whether or not they’d be involved in HBO’s reported Jon Snow spinoff.
The rumored Game of Thrones spinoff Jon Snow has been addressed by the HBO fantasy show’s creators. Game of Thrones was a smash hit show based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin, which lasted for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019. While the show featured a vast ensemble of characters, one of the most important was Kit Harington’s Jon Snow, who was raised as a bastard son in the Stark family but was later revealed to be Aegon Targaryen, with a strong claim to the Iron Throne of Westeros.
The Hollywood Reporter recently sat down with Game of Thrones co-creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. During their conversation, they addressed the possible Jon Snow spinoff, which was reported in development at HBO but has since been stalled. When asked if they’d consider making the show, Benioff said, “I don’t know,” and Weiss said that “nothing would make us happier than to work with our people from that show,” but suggested there are non-Thrones avenues for that. Read their full quotes below:
Benioff: I don’t know…
Weiss: It would be so great; nothing would make us happier than to work with our people from that show. 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.
Benioff: [Maybe if we waited longer,] like in [the belated Hustler sequel] The Color of Money — that was a good sequel.
Weiss: Maybe when we’re 80 and Kit’s approaching retirement, he can throw that cloak on again with real gray in his beard.
Benioff: One last ride…
Will The Jon Snow Spinoff Ever Happen?
There are likely several accounting reasons for the delays in development on the Jon Snow spinoff. The first is that the prequel House of the Dragon is currently running, and the Dunk and Egg spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has already been ordered to series. If HBO mounts even more Game of Thrones spinoffs at the same time, they run the risk of oversaturating the market and undervaluing the other entries in the franchise, failing to justify their lavish budgets.
The Jon Snow spinoff also depends on the availability of Harington. The Game of Thrones star, who is now 37 years old, likely has a busy schedule as he has appeared in quite a few high-profile projects since the end of Game of Thrones, including the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe installment Eternals. It is unknown if his character Dane Whitman will return in the franchise, but Eternals’ post-credits scene implies that he may appear in the MCU’s upcoming movie Blade and take on the mantle of Black Knight.
Weiss and Benioff’s seeming disinclination to join the Jon Snow team does not mean that the show won’t happen, however. Neither creator is directly involved with House of the Dragon or The Hedge Knight, so development may quietly be progressing without their knowledge. However, even if the show does come to fruition, the slow progress that Game of Thrones spinoffs has thus demonstrated far likely means that it will be at least a few years before it does so.
