The first Game of Thrones spin-off series House of the Dragon may only just have landed, but HBO has many more plans up its sleeve for the future of the fantasy franchise.
Back in June, Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin confirmed that a spin-off centred on Jon Snow after the events of the original series was in the works, as well as the working title for the spin-off: Snow.
Martin also revealed that Kit Harington pitched the show himself.
Writing about the project in a blog post titled SNOW…and Other Stuff, Martin said: “Yes, there is a Jon Snow show in development. Yes, it was Kit Harington who brought the idea to us.
“I cannot tell you the names of the writers/showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet… but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific.”
And now Harington has seemingly teased some intriguing details about the upcoming sequel, revealing that Jon Snow is “not OK” after the events of Game of Thrones. Read more on the plot below.
Fans of the original series will remember that Jon Snow killed Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and lost his lover Ygritte (Rose Leslie) over the course of the show.
But what exactly is set to unfold in the Jon Snow spin-off, when is it set to land and which other Game of Thrones characters could return? Read on for everything you need to know.
Jon Snow spin-off release date speculation
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Snow, as the spin-off series is provisionally being called, has not even officially been confirmed by HBO Max at the time of writing, so is unlikely to arrive before 2024.
House of the Dragon season 2 is set to land in 2024, so it is more likely that we’ll get the Jon Snow spin-off the following year in 2025, but that’s just speculation at this point.
The Harington-led spin-off is one of four live-action successor shows in development at HBO, Martin clarified in a blog post back in June, each of which are in the very early stages of development.
He revealed: “Various rumors are floating around about my involvement, or lack of same. I am involved, just as I am with THE HEDGE KNIGHT and THE SEA SNAKE and TEN THOUSAND SHIPS, and all the animated shows. Kit’s team have visited me here in Santa Fe and worked with me and my own team of brilliant, talented writer/ consultants to hammer out the show.”
He continued: “All four of these successor shows are still in the script stage. Outlines and treatments have been written and approved, scripts have been written, notes have been given, second and third drafts have been written. So far, that’s all. This is the way television works. Please note: nothing has been green lit yet, and there is no guarantee when or if it will be… on any of these shows. The likelihood of all four series getting on the air… well, I’d love it, but that’s not the way it works, usually.”
Who could star in the Jon Snow spin-off with Kit Harington?
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Kit Harington is the only confirmed cast member at this point, as the actor who initiated the idea for the new show.
Harington’s Game of Thrones co-star Emilia Clarke confirmed his return in June, as well as revealing she will not return as Daenerys for the show.
When asked about reports of the spin-off show by BBC News, she said: “He has told me about it. And I know it exists. It’s happening.”
She then backtracked slightly, adding: “It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up. So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.”
Asked whether she would be appearing, she said: “No, I think I’m done.”
Of course, the door also remains open for those who survived the events of Game of Thrones, including Jon’s sisters Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner), as well as his brother-turned-Three-Eyed-Raven Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), the Lord of Casterly Rock.
What’s more, Game of Thrones star Jacob Anderson, who appeared as Grey Worm in the original series, previously spoke about the possibility of starring alongside Harington in the spin-off series.
“I think the only way Grey Worm would show up in that show is to kill Jon Snow,” he told E! News, alluding to the latter’s fateful (and fatal) involvement with Queen Daenerys Targaryen.
He continued: “I don’t think Grey Worm would want to see him again. I think that was quite a significant condition of [Jon] living, was like, ‘I don’t ever want to see your face again. I’m going to go my way, and you’re going to go your way, and that’s that.’ I’d be very surprised if we saw Grey Worm again.”
What could happen in the potential Jon Snow spin-off?
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Little is known about the plot of the spin-off, but we do know it will continue Jon Snow’s story from where Game of Thrones left off, and that it will go beyond the scope of George RR Martin’s books upon which the series was based.
The final season of the original series saw Jon discover his real identity, get exiled from the kingdom of Westeros and go North of the Wall to search for a new life.
During a Q&A session at the official Game of Thrones Convention in Los Angeles on Sunday 11th December, Harington seemingly teased the plot of his character-led spin-off as he spoke about how he thought Jon would be feeling after his sentence at the end of the original series.
“I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly,” Harington said, 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 continued: “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’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 OK. He’s not OK.”
Is there a trailer for the Jon Snow spin-off?
No, it’s far too early for a trailer yet given that the spin-off is yet to receive the green light, but we’ll keep this page updated.
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