With his Game Of Thrones spin-off in the works, Kit Harington teases Jon Snow’s headspace
Jon Snow may have survived the Game Of Thrones finale, but that doesn't mean he's super happy about it
Aux News Jon Snow
We weren’t supposed to know about it, but someone leaked the existence of a Game Of Thrones spin-off over the summer that will focus on Jon Snow, with George R.R. Martin explaining later on that the whole pitch for the spin-off actually came from Jon Snow actor Kit Harington himself—with him bringing in his own people and making his own pitch to HBO, rather than just sitting back and waiting for someone else to say “hey, what if we took the ostensible ‘protagonist’ from one of the biggest TV shows ever and gave him his own show?”
Nobody else has leaked anything about it since then, but Harington did vaguely dance around the idea of continuing Jon Snow’s story at the official Game Of Thrones Convention this weekend, telling the fans in attendance how he felt about where the end of the show left his character. “I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly,” Harington said, referring to Jon being exiled back to The Wall as punishment for killing Daenerys after she went on that dragon rampage, with him adding, “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.”
The way Harington sees it, it’s good that Jon Snow got to live, but it’s also bad that he has to live forever in the place where he experienced most of the bad stuff that happened to him over the course of the series—Harington specifically mentions the death of Ygritte and when he had to hang Olly for betraying him, but let’s not forget that The Wall is also where he met Westeros’ best best friend, Samwell Tarly, so it wasn’t all bad. Still, Harington says that the end of the show left Jon to “live out his life thinking about all of this trauma, and that… that’s interesting.” That comes from Entertainment Weekly, which says he “coyly emphasized” that last part.
So that means that, if this Jon Snow show goes forward, it will probably be about everyone’s favorite sullen bastard being… a sullen bastard. Hey, if it ain’t broke. It’s not like a Tyrion spin-off wouldn’t be about him being a drunk smart-ass, or that a Samwell spin-off wouldn’t be about him quietly being the smartest person in the room who nobody appreciates as much as they should.
44 Comments
If it’s set up at the Wall, then hopefully it’ll visually just be shades of white and gray and black, because god forbid these fucking shows have any color in them.
Don’t forget red, for all the blood, and pink, for all the areolae.
I must be remembering wrong, but wasn’t The Wall destroyed?
By Bob Geldof, to a Pink Floyd soundtrack, if memory serves
Not the entire wall, just a big enough chunk to allow the Night King army to go through.
Wow I can’t wait to see what they do with the rich world and endless possibilities that was teased by the finale of Game of Thrones. So exciting to see what adventures everyone will go on under the guidance of King Bran. I know it won’t be stupid because Game of Thrones is never ever really really stupid. Hold the door because I can’t wait!!!!!!!!
Nah, the show had a super happy ending that tied up all the loose ends! The Six Kingdoms are ruled by a potentially infertile child with no interest in the mortal world, the most powerful remaining kingdom is ruled by a mercenary whose only friend is the last heir of the defeated power behind the last ruler, and the largest kingdom is ruled by an angry queen with a claim to the rest if the seven kingdoms.Oh crap it’s another civil war waiting to happen.
Bran will warg into other people and continue to rule forever.He’s the Westerosi version of Leto II, God-Emperor of Dune.
I get the impression we’re not getting more than a mention of King Bran. Isn’t Harrington the only cast member returning?
Doing scenes south of the wall would probably require a lot of new contracts for the Game of Thrones actors or a lot of “oh, you just missed Tyrion.”
Just hire people that are the same size as the original cast and use CGI/makeup.
Or fucking recast, because they’re fictional characters played by actors.
I enjoy profanity as much as the next person but your use of fucking there gave your post an oddly hostile tone.
Sorry, been a long day. That’s on me.
My guess is the pitch involved Jon and Tormund north of the wall, probably becoming or being the new King Beyond the Wall, something like that.
Just call it Game of Thrones season 9, cowards
Except that they aren’t covering any games concerning thrones this time?
True, though I believe there’s also at least one season of Veep does not center around a veep, so
Veep of Thrones?
If this gets us all more Tormund, I’m all for it!
I feel like Tormund was definitely part of the pitch
I always figured that if we ever got it, the last scene we’d get of Jon Snow in the books would be him standing alone in a pool of light cast by his sword (Longclaw having become the new Lightbringer after he draws it out of Ghost, and then later out of Daenerys at the end of the story), looking out on the darkness and ice for any surviving Others. Unaffected by the cold or hunger, because he’s basically a wight after being brought back by Melisandre. So him being lonely and miserable in the North is kind of fitting in a follow-up show.
He and Arya go boating around the world looking for adventure.
Technically, it’s a late-night variety program, The John Snow Variety Show.
Good. Prequels are boring as hell. Take a chance, tell a new story.
Yes! A…sequel, if you will. That’ll show ‘em!
Technically, it’s a variety program, The John Snow Variety Show.Tangentially, check your advertisers. This page gets hijacked by a couple of super-sketchy, full-screen ads in Edge.
My dream for the Jon Snow show is he gets a bunch of book side characters like Darkstar, Sallador Saan, Val, that Velaryon dude and head east to Asshai and deal with the five forts shit. Show us new stuff and Jon leaves Westeros
Let’s do it even more centered on Kit Harrington! Seeing as his acting skills are top notch!
Game of Frowns
Is that what happened to him at the end of the series? I know I saw it, hated it, don’t remember anything about where he went.Every time I think about the last season I remember how incredibly enthralled I was earlier in the show’s life…the first big battle with the White Walkers, the Red Wedding, SHAME SHAME SHAME…It’s amazing how differently I felt at the end. Of course, given Kit’s…um, acting skills, I’m not surprised he might want to milk that Jon Snow $$$.
Is the headspace: “I have been typecast and I need the work.” ??
What do you mean ‘typecast’? He’s got another role too you know: Black Knight in the Marvel mov….oooohhhhh I see what you mean now!!
Yeah sounds like it lol. Good for this actor for getting together some serious top writers and impressing HBO brass and George RR Martin with the pitch, though. Doesn’t hurt to be proactive
I wish him the best and I like him as an actor. It was more about will he be trusted to get other dissimilar roles.
It doesn’t seem like it. I like him, he was right for the Jon Snow role imo, but he probably doesn’t have a ton of range. Eternals was a big chance for him to blow up in Hollywood, but that movie didn’t resonate, and his character didn’t generate any cultural buzz at all. I doubt we’ll see Black Knight again in any MCU productions. He is likely quite wealthy from doing Thrones for a decade though, and if this series works out will be set up well for a good while.
I was trying to be positive.
Is there… anything for him to do at the Wall? The Wildlings are all either dead or living in Westeros as refugees and the White Walkers have been destroyed, presumably for good since the Night King was killed, so there shouldn’t be any sentient living (or undead) beings north of the Wall anymore nor a reason for the Night’s Watch or the Wall (what’s left of it) to still exist. So I feel like the options for a sequel are (1) Someone assassinates Bran and it starts a new war of succession that Jon gets pulled into, or (2) Jon ends up in Essos dealing with the legacy of his aunt-lover’s actions there.
Is there… anything for him to do at the Wall? The Wildlings are all either dead or living in Westeros as refugees and the White Walkers have been destroyed, presumably for good since the Night King was killed, so there shouldn’t be any sentient living (or undead) beings north of the Wall anymore nor a reason for the Night’s Watch or the Wall (what’s left of it) to still exist. So I feel like the options for a sequel are (1) Someone assassinates Bran and it starts a new war of succession that Jon gets pulled into, or (2) Jon ends up in Essos dealing with the legacy of his aunt-lover’s actions there.
What if this spin-off is literally Jon Snow rebuilding the Wall? Every episode there’s a hint of “Oh gosh, what if there’s something worse than ice zombies out here?” but no it’s just endless winter and a piece of shit construction site for 13 episodes.
Really could have done some brave television by making this a sitcom. Mopey Jon Snow gets a wacky wildling roomate in his ice apartment building beyond the wall.
Let him give Tormund a little kiss, you fucking cowards.
“So that means that, if this Jon Snow show goes forward, it will probably be about everyone’s favorite sullen bastard being… a sullen bastard.”
As opposed to what? Jon Snow being a happy bastard?
Of all the reactions to this show, the one that might puzzle me the most is the intense love for Jon Snow as a character. Of all the major figures in the story, Jon is easily the least complex and morally ambiguous. He’s the closest thing there is to a straight forward Fantasy Hero, which feels pretty old hat juxtaposed with a cast that bucks those traditions. When people discuss a character like Daenerys, there are wildly varying interpretations of her story, ranging from those who think she’s a messiah to those who think she’s the devil incarnate (which coolly kind of mirrors reactions to her in-universe). When people argue about Jon, it often seems like it’s mainly focused on whether or not he’s boring.