Four years after it was announced, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington says he can see his shelved Jon Snow sequel series moving forward despite previously being reluctant.
"I still think there’s a world in which something could work. I wouldn’t have gone into it in the first place if I didn’t," said Harington on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "Now I’ve gone and done all these other things, and now I feel more comfortable with that character and that world again and where it sits in my life."
The spin-off went into development in 2022, and according to Harington, was being worked on for two years. The show was set to follow Snow living in exile behind the wall after the events of the main series, broken and living alone without his direwolf Ghost or his sword Longclaw. But in 2024, Harington confirmed that the project had been scrapped because it wasn't "exciting enough," and HBO found it too downbeat.
The star says at first he was all in, but over time, he grew more reluctant to go back to the fantasy world. "I was very insistent at the start, as was HBO and George R.R. Martin. Like, 'If we don’t find the right thing, let’s not do it. It’s much better if we don’t.' After a little while of thinking about it, it kind of was me. [I said], 'This isn’t quite the right [story].'"
Not all is lost, though, as earlier this year, Drops of God's Quoc Dang Tran joined the project. The story has seemingly been refreshed, with the tale now set in Essos, with Snow's sister, Arya Stark, now reportedly involved.
However, Harington is now set to join another huge fantasy franchise as the star has been cast as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the second season of HBO's Harry Potter series. Harington previously voiced the character for Audible's Full Cast Audio editions of the Potter books. Harington added that the Harry Potter books helped him through a difficult time in his life tackling sobriety, adding, "Lockhart is addicted to himself… It’s just a tiny step to my left [for me]."
For more, check out our list of the best HBO shows, and keep up with upcoming Game of Thrones movies and TV shows on the way.
