Kit Harington is giving fans a hint as to where HBO's Jon Snow spinoff of "Game of Thrones" will pick up the story with everyone's favorite broody King in the North. Speaking at the official "Game of Thrones" convention on Dec. 11, Harington spoke about Jon's ending, and though he didn't mention the spinoff by name, he pointed toward where the show could pick up.
"Game of Thrones" viewers probably don't need a reminder of the show's controversial ending, but season eight wrapped up with Jon Snow deciding he wasn't going to try to claim the Iron Throne, despite the fact that he was a Targaryen [1] by birth, served as the King in the North, and had a claim to the seat. Instead, after assassinating Daenerys Targaryen [2] (Emilia Clarke [3]) — who was his lover, his aunt, and his queen — he went to live in the North, beyond the Wall, with the wildlings and his friend Tormund Giantsbane [4] (Kristofer Hivju).
"I think if you asked him, he would've felt he got off lightly," Harington said of the ending at the convention, as reported by Entertainment Weekly [5]. "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.
"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 . . . 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 okay. He's not okay."
Back in June, The Hollywood Reporter [6] announced that the spinoff series is currently in development. Writer George R. R. Martin confirmed the news shortly after on his blog [7] and added that Harington was the one who had the idea for the series, tentatively titled "Snow," and that the actor himself put together the creative team. "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," Martin wrote.
Based on Harington's comments, the spinoff won't undo "Game of Thrones"'s ending. It's unclear if Snow will eventually go south again (maybe to see the siblings he abandoned [8]) in the upcoming show, or if it'll focus completely on Jon, Tormund, and the other wildlings. It's also possible other actors whose characters were alive at the end of "Game of Thrones" could appear.
Harington has mostly laid low since "Game of Thrones" ended in 2019, save for joining the MCU in 2021 with "Eternals," in which he played Dane Whitman. Whitman's role in that movie was not large, but the ending scenes [10] did set things up for the character to take on the mantle of Black Knight [11] and to appear in the upcoming "Blade" movie [12] starring Mahershala Ali as the title character.
HBO has been very interested in making more "Game of Thrones" shows since the original series ended, and that interest has only grown since "House of the Dragon" became a major hit this year. The network also has other prequel projects in development, including one set 90 years before "Game of Thrones" focusing on the knight Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg. In Martin's books, Duncan the Tall is an ancestor of Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie [13]).
For now, fans will have to wait for more details about what exactly Jon Snow is getting up to in Westeros since "Game of Thrones" ended. At the very least, it seems he'll once again be very sad and very cold.
