One of several announced Game Of Thrones spin-offs, a series following the adventures of Jon Snow is no longer ‘on the table’ according to Kit Harrington.
When Game Of Thrones – the wildly popular TV series based on George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels – came to an end in 2019, HBO was already in the process of cooking up a number of potential pin-off shows that could prolong the success of a show that had become must-watch TV.
We’ve already seen one spin-off show emerge from the world of Game Of Thrones, that being House Of The Dragon. That show is currently approaching its second season but another potential spin-off that was in development is now dead, according to the actor who was at the centre of it all.
Kit Harrington played Jon Snow in Game Of Thrones and given how the series ended, seemed well situated for a series charting the character’s further adventures. Whilst that was certainly the plan at one point, Harrington has recently been out an about promoting his new film, Blood For Dust and he told Screen Rant that the project is now dead.
“I hadn’t really ever spoken about it, because it was in development. I didn’t want it leaked out that it was being developed,” Harrington said. “I didn’t want the thing to happen where people kind of start theorising, getting either excited about it or hating the idea of it, when it may never happen. Because in development, you look at every angle, and you see whether it’s worth it.”
Given how the final season of Game Of Thrones was largely less well received than its predecessors, it has been speculated as to whether the lack of source material was an issue for those trying to bring a Jon Snow series into being. It’s been talked about lots in the past that a lack of source material (Martin hasn’t yet written the final books in his saga) hurt the quality of the show in its final outing and given that there are no books to outline the future of Snow’s character, could that have been a factor?
Whilst not completely confirming that, Harrington does confirm that the lack of a clear direction was the problem, stating that “currently, it’s not [worth pursuing]. Currently, it’s off the table, because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough so we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being.” There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.”
He didn’t rule out returning to the idea, but the chances seem on the slight side.
A prequel series that we’d dearly love to see, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is still said to be in development though (and for that project, there are existing books by Martin for creators to adapt). Whether it happens though, we’ll have to wait and see.
Season 2 of House Of The Dragon will premiere next month.
