Snow: Game of Thrones

Between Game of Thrones Seasons 7 and 8, HBO embarked on a long process to find an heir. At the time, every spinoff idea pitched (and eventually made its way to development) was a prequel set within author George R.R. Martin’s already-defined Westerosi history. And with the first of those prequels, House of the Dragon, having finished its first season, Martin confirmed the first Game of Thrones sequel, Snow, is also in the works.

Snow: Game of Thrones: The original ideas pitched for a Game of Thrones follow-up were prequels partly because Martin wasn’t interested in a sequel series back in 2016. With two more books still to go in A Song of Ice & Fire, the idea of the story extending beyond that was still too much of a gray area for the author to contemplate.

But six years on, things have changed. Martin may not have come up with a story beyond the crowning of Bran the Broken and Sansa, Queen of the North, but apparently, Kit Harington, the actor who spent a decade playing Jon Snow, did so for his character. On his personal “Not A Blog” website, Martin confirmed the project was brought to the HBO heads by Harington, and the series was in development.

Snow: ‘Game of Thrones’ Here’s what else is known about the sequel, the working title of which is Snow.

Although the show’s existence is now public knowledge, everyone involved have been tight-lipped about what it might cover other than “Jon Snow’s continued adventures beyond the wall.” There’s no word if Jon Snow might have to come south for an emergency, nor who nor what he and the Wildlings might face as an antagonist. But with Westeros now realigned and under the rule of three Starks, there are a lot of potential scenarios for what might come next.

Harington has also remained mum about details. However, speaking at the first official Game of Thrones convention, he did talk about where his character was mentally at the end of the original series. At the panel dedicated to all things Jon Snow, according to Entertainment Weekly, Harington said, “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 also did a bit of a deep dive into the emotional trauma of being handed a freedom Snow’s not sure he feels he deserves. “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,” Harington said, not directly linking this headspace to the new show, but hinting that this could be the genesis of its conflict. “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.”