Game of Thrones has a spinoff problem. After the controversial finale to the fantasy epic, HBO started pursuing every conceivable spinoff idea, from prequels set millennia ago to animated series and swashbuckling nautical adventures. But so far, only one spinoff — House of the Dragon — has seen the light of day, while the rest remain in various stages of development limbo.
One potential spinoff has always stood out from the rest: Snow, the Jon Snow sequel series that would depict his life after the finale, presumedly among the wildlings. Author George R. R. Martin even confirmed in a blog post that actor Kit Harington was spearheading the series. However, a new quote from Harington has given fans a devastating update, and proves the future of the Thronesverse lies elsewhere.
In a conversation with ScreenRant, Harington revealed the series is no longer in development. “Currently, it’s off the table,” he said, “because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough.”
His quote points to a major problem with HBO’s attempt to expand Game of Thrones. The series covered a huge ensemble of characters through a saga that affected the fate of the entire land of Westeros... but what happens after that? A single-character spinoff would narrow the scope of the franchise to an absurd degree. It’s a tall task to keep that compelling, especially for an epilogue. Game of Thrones moved beyond its source material, so a series like Snow would have none of Martin’s writing to work off of. Was Jon just going to wander around?
This confirms that the future of Game of Thrones, at least for now, lies in the Targaryens of the past. Martin wrote plenty of source material about the Targaryen dynasty, and focusing on them would allow the franchise to maintain its sprawling ensemble style. That strategy has worked for House of the Dragon, and pretty much every spinoff still in development focuses on the Targaryen era, from the greenlit Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, to spinoffs still in the early stages, like The Sea Snake and Ten Thousand Ships.
All is not lost for Jon Snow. While the series is shelved, the character does have a reputation for coming back from the dead. “There may be a time in the future where we return to it,” Harington said. “But at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.”
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