Cancellation
Harington announced that SNOW was no longer in development on April 9 while promoting his new movie Blood for Dust. He explained: "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, and I didn't want the thing to happen where people kind of start theorizing, 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. And currently, it's not.
"Currently, it's off the table, because we all couldn't find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough," Harington went on. 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."
Work on this series may have been halted as long ago as January of 2023 judging by Martin's blog. Many fans felt like this was the least promising project on the Westeros slate, but for those that wanted to see it, they can take hope from Harington's attitude.
Early Response
After the poor reception of the end of Game of Thrones – and the grim finality of its ending – fans expected HBO to stay away from direct sequels. Martin's writings extend not only over a vast fictional world but back into a dense fictional history, and it seemed like most of the ideas for successor shows would go in that direction. Therefore, it's no surprise that many fans thought the Jon Snow sequel news was a hoax when it was first announced.
While THR cited anonymous sources at HBO, many fans did not believe this report until Martin himself confirmed it on his blog. Along the way, Clarke said that she had heard of the idea from Harington himself. She told BBC News: "He has told me about it. And I know it exists. It's happening."
Harington's Involvement
The first report said that Kit Harington was on board to make his return as Jon Snow and had already agreed to the series. Some fans were surprised by that, but Clarke and Martin actually took it a step further. They shocked fans by revealing that this series was actually Harington's idea and that he was deeply involved in developing it.
"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," Clarke said. This comment seemed so out of place that some fans thought it might have been a joke, but Martin explained it further in his blog post.
"Yes, it was Kit Harrington who brought the idea to us," he wrote. "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."
Title
Early reports did not mention a title for this show, but Martin's blog post did. He wrote: "Our working title for this show is SNOW." Many social media commenters have expressed surprise that the title isn't more closely related to Game of Thrones, considering this series would be the most closely related to the original series. Fans got right to work pitching their own ideas for titles.
Would Emilia Clarke Have Returned as Daenerys?
Since Game of Thrones ended, one of the most popular fan theories has been that Daenerys survived its gruesome ending. Many fans on social media have pointed out that fire magic has brought a few characters back to life before – including Jon Snow – and hoped that Dany's fate would be the same. However, there's no indication that Clarke was onboard for this sequel, and there are plenty of hints that the Mother of Dragons is done with Westeros.
"No, I think I'm done," Clarke said bluntly when asked about reprisal by BBC News. She reportedly laughed at the idea, and it's not hard to imagine why.
Which Other Stars Would Have Returned?
A few other cast members have already said that they would be interested in returning to a Game of Thrones sequel – either before or after the news of this show broke. Gwendoline Christie told Collider that she is "invested in playing very different parts now," but that she "will never stop loving Brienne of Tarth, and I will never stop being interested by her."
Meanwhile, Maisie Williams told PEOPLE that she was extremely excited about the spinoff, and many fans are hoping for an Arya comeback more than any others. John Bradley told PopCulture.com's Brian Jones that he would love to reprise his role as Samwell Tarly. Just this September, Liam Cunningham said that he would be eager to return as Davos Seaworth as well during an interview with Den of Geek.
Fans seem to be taking it as a given that Kristofer Hivju would return as Tormund Giantsbane since he was with Jon Snow when the series left off. Finally, fans are eager for the spinoff to show more of Jon Snow's wolf, Ghost.
'Shelved'
The biggest question looming over the fandom right now is which spinoff projects are still in development, and which ones HBO has dropped. In a blog post at the end of December, Martin wrote that he was still working on "several of the successor shows that we're developing with HBO," adding: "Some of these are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development. None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping... maybe soon. A couple have been shelved, but I would not agree that they are dead. You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf."
Last we heard, HBO greenlit the series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – an adaptation of Martin's novella series commonly referred to as "The Tales of Dunk & Egg." The other three live-action series in development have all been dropped since then, including SNOW. In January, Martin revealed that 10,000 Ships has been dropped from development while The Sea Snake has been changed to an animated project. 10,000 Ships would have been a far-flung prequel about the legendary Queen Nymeria leading her people on an exodus from Essos to Westeros to escape the wrath of Daenerys' dragon-riding ancestors, the Valyrians. That would be set about 1,000 years before Game of Thrones. Meanwhile, The Sea Snake would be set shortly before House of the Dragon, centering on a younger version of Corlys Velaryon.
Finally, there were also two animated series in development, one of which was about the mysterious land of Yi Ti. The other was a complete mystery, but Martin's wording means that one or both of these could be the "shelved" projects he was referring to.
What Would the Series Be About?
Unsurprisingly, fans online had a field day speculating as to what exactly this sequel series would be about. Obviously, only Harington's writing team knows for sure right now, but some of the fan theories are exciting. A popular idea is that the show could pick up after a time skip, putting a few years between it and Game of Thrones. This would allow the new political situation in Westeros to settle, and perhaps give Arya time to come back from her journeys to the west.
However, fans do not seem to love the idea of this series taking place entirely north of The Wall. Many feel that it would need to incorporate Sansa's independent kingdom in The North, at least, and probably Bran's southern six kingdoms as well. Some even suspect that Jon Snow will sail east from the North and explore the lands of Essos, especially now that he knows he has Valyrian heritage of his own.
Harington Did Not Discuss 'SNOW' in December
Contrary to popular belief and many widespread reports, Harington did not divulge new details on SNOW at the Game of Thrones Fan Convention in Los Angeles in December of 2022. Harington was there, and on one panel he did discuss Jon Snow and how he believed his character would be feeling after the end of Game of Thrones. However, he did not mention his potential spinoff directly nor share specific insights about where it might go.
What Harington did say was that he believed the ending of Game of Thrones worked better than some fans gave it credit for. He said: "I think that there were various things we all could have done differently throughout the show – not just in the final few seasons – that but I think that the story is right, and I think Jon killing Dany – I'm sorry – I think it's the right ending." As for Jon Snow's banishment in the end, Harington said: "I think if you asked him, he would've felt he got off lightly. 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."
Fan Theories
Some fans expected the Jon Snow sequel to make some subtle changes and retcons to the ending of Game of Thrones. Considering that it would have had all new writers and showrunners, this isn't completely outside the realm of possibility, but of course, it would have to be minimized to avoid confusing the audience. Still, there are some details this series could flesh out to make the ending of Game of Thrones more palatable in hindsight.
For one thing, many fans expected this sequel to explore Jon Snow's resurrection more deeply. When Melisandre brought Jon back to life in Season 6, fans expected him to be a bit more like a zombie, perhaps with mystical powers or quirks. The show never really explored this with Jon, although it did so a bit with Beric Dondarrion and Benjen Stark. If we learn that Jon is what fans call a "fire wight," it could retroactively explain some of his actions in the later seasons.
The show could also imply to us in a few different ways that the battle against the White Walkers was more complicated than it looked in Season 8, Episode 3. Many fans expected this war to last longer, and for the ultimate solution to be more complicated than a Valyrian steel knife in the right place at the right time. The Jon Snow sequel could utilize the library at Castle Black to explore the ancient history of both ice and fire magic in Westeros more deeply.
The Jon Snow spinoff is on the shelf for now, but Harington and some fans can hold out hope that it may rise from the dead one day. Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are streaming now on HBO and Max. You can find Martin's books in print, digital and audiobook formats.