Word now officially comes from Kit Harington, who personified the one & only Jon Snow for GAME OF THRONES, that the character is not coming forth in the hoped-for Jon Snow project. Word had leaked out in the summer of 2022 that a series sequel and therefore, the continuation of Jon Snow’s storyline was in development. Author George R.R. Martin revealed that the series had Snow as a working title and had writers/showrunners on board, brought in by Harington.
Harington has been quoted as saying to Screen Rant that in early developmental stages, a green light is iffy
“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. 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.”
Let’s make something clear here. Though, as the years go by, the likelihood of a series from Jon Snow’s perspective to materialize gets slimmer, it isn’t forever lost quite yet. The words used by Harington are ‘off the table’ and ‘lay down the tools for the time being.’ Note, those choices of words are different from saying ‘canceled’ or ‘killed.’ Is there a chance a brainstorm occurs that causes this storyline to fall into place sometime down the road?
Of course, we do not wish Harington any ill will, but this writer is not all that sure Snow had a strong chance of coming to be in the first place. The choices that have been made seem right to me. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON and the forthcoming A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE HEDGE KNIGHT both have something Snow doesn’t have. They have the solid spine given to them by George. R.R. Martin. His crafting of the back history of all things Westeros is there, but the future steps after GAME OF THRONES are not. Though it sounds exciting to see what would befall Jon Snow after he killed Daenerys and went to the Wall, it would be tricky and risky to write fresh words for the saga, a saga not shaped by Martin. Yes, I know each series has its set of screenwriters, but they are drawing upon the words of Martin to shape their screenplays. That would not be the case with Snow and for that, I think it hurt the chance of the show materializing.
What do you think? Are you sad to see Snow, a show able to break new ground in the milieu, shelved or are you happy with the cinematic retellings of stories already told in print?
