'Snow' Show No More

Game Of Thrones Jon Snow Spinoff Series No Longer In Development At HBO

The Game of Thrones Jon Snow spinoff series is no longer in active development at HBO, Kit Harington confirms in an interview.

Screen Rant Adam Bentz

We will continue to know nothing... more about Jon Snow, it seems, for now.

The Jon Snow spinoff of Game of Thrones is no longer in active development at HBO. Though the main series ended in 2019, the fantasy franchise is continuing with multiple prequel series based on the works of George R.R. Martin, including House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. It was first reported in 2022 that a Jon Snow spinoff series, which would act as a sequel to Game of Thrones following Kit Harington's character, was in development.

Now, during an exclusive interview with Screen Rant promoting Blood for Dust, Harington confirmed that the Jon Snow spinoff series is no longer in development. The actor says the project was previously in the developmental stage, but "currently, it's not" and "it's off the table" because they "couldn't find the right story to tell." Though it's no longer in active development, Harington hopes they can revisit the project sometime in the future.

That's too bad, but it makes sense. As Bentz notes, there's likely a reason why the Game of Thrones prequel series seem to be working,¹ while the sequel ones are not: source material. House of the Dragon is drawn from George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood while The Hedge Knight is based off of his Dunk and Egg novellas. Any Jon Snow sequel, much like the last few seasons of Game of Thrones itself, would be drawn from extrapolations of Martin's works, not his actual writing.²

This, as we're all well aware by now, is a large part of what doomed those final episodes of Game of Thrones. I tend to think the main problems came from the fact that showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff oddly seemed to want to rush through the crescendo and finale of the show after years of build up, but it all likely stems from a lack of scaffolding and/or guardrails to follow in the form of Martin's words.

This is, of course, Martin's own fault. We're now coming upon the 13the anniversary of the his last published work in the official A Song of Ice and Fire series – 2011's A Dance with Dragons.³ The Winds of Winter has been "coming soon" for almost a decade now.⁴ And there's still one more book to come after that!

Anyway, with Snow – the Jon Snow sequel's working title – now tabled, a couple ideas:

1. Let's give Jon Snow more room to breathe. Five years isn't far enough removed from that Game of Thrones ending. I'd be in favor of waiting something closer to twenty years. Harrington, then in his 50s, could play a sort of "Old Man Snow", which worked well for Wolverine and Batman in the past. Who wouldn't be in favor of a Logan-style show (or movie) with Jon Snow now commemorating two decades at the Wall? Something stirs yonder. Yadda yadda.
2. While Harrington is still young, remake the last season of Game of Thrones. Yes, some people want the last few seasons of the show remade, but I think it's more reasonable to re-do the last season (maybe the final episode of season 7 as well) and expand it over two new seasons. Get Martin himself to write it (writing scripts for a show should be decidedly more manageable than a sprawling conclusion of novels – and hearkens back to his early days of writing) and bring back the full cast.

I recognize the latter is a pipe dream at best, and blasphemy in Hollywood at worst. But in a world where we get not one, but two "Snyder Cuts" (or three: was the black & white version really necessary?) of Justice League, anything can happen. There is so much money to be made with this concept, and if there's one thing Warner Bros Discovery needs, it's money. Release it in theaters. Then put in on Max. It would be one of the biggest television events of all time.

And again, it could tee up Harrington well for a true Snow sequel down the road. But he's clearly not above revisiting the character already, so why not take advantage of that momentum? Sure, the actor who played Bran might be nine feet tall and 40 years old by now,⁵ but there's a window...

¹ Though the Naomi Watts-led prequel Blood Moon clearly didn't work after it was already well into production...

² Though Martin and his writing team were apparently collaborating with Harrington's own writing team on Snow...

³ Dance with Dragons was published on July 12, 2011 -- three months after Game of Thrones, the show, premiered on HBO. That show concluded its eight season run nearly five years ago. That's how long it has been.

⁴ It was 2 years between the first and second novel and 2 years before the second and third. Then 5 years between the third and fourth. Then 6 years between the fourth and fifth. Again, now just about 13 years between the fifth and sixth -- and counting...

⁵ For the record, Isaac Hempstead Wright is 25 and 5'11", according to Google.