Variety reports that Kit Harington (Eternals, Pompeii) declared his Game of Thrones spinoff, which would have focused on the character Jon Snow, is “off the table” and is no longer in development at HBO in a recent interview with ScreenRant. The network did not respond to requests for comment. In June 2022, rumors surfaced that Harington would be taking on the renowned role of Jon Snow once again. The role as Jon Snow earned Harington two Emmy nominations: one for lead actor in a drama series and one for supporting actor.
Afterward, author George R.R. Martin (Beauty and the Beast, Dark Winds) stated in a blog post: “It was Kit Harrington 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.”
Harington spoke with ScreenRant and acknowledged that the project is no longer in active development because the team “couldn’t find the right story to tell.”
Harington stated: “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. 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.”
Variety claims that Game of Thrones ended with Jon Snow being banished from Westeros and riding into the Haunted Forest to start over with the Wildlings and his direwolf Ghost. Many fans thought Snow’s adventures with the Wildlings would be the starting point for the spinoff series.
In an interview with Den of Geek from the previous year, Liam Cunningham (Hunger, Clash of the Titans) expressed his excitement about reprising his Game of Thrones role as Sir Davos Seaworth on the Jon Snow series, going so far as to personally contact actor Kit Harington.
According to Variety, on HBO and its streaming service Max, however, the Thrones universe will live on as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight begins production and House of the Dragon returns for season two this summer. The prequels focus on the A Song of Fire and Ice universe, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is in development, focuses specifically on Aegon the Conqueror.
Variety claims that The Hedge Knight just revealed the members of its main cast. The spinoff is centered on the characters from Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg books, Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg. Dexter Sol Ansell has been cast as Egg, and Peter Claffey as Dunk.