HBO Rejected Jon Snow ‘Game Of Thrones’ Sequel For Being Too Depressing

There have been practically an infinite number of stories pouring out from a single THR interview centered on George RR Martin and Game of Thrones. A lot of focus has been on less-than-promising Winds of Winter updates, but mainly him sparring with the current House of the Dragon showrunner.

Also in the piece, however, is a breakdown of what a previously pitched Jon Snow spin-off sequel show would have been, and why it was rejected. In short, it was too bleak, even for Game of Thrones.

The idea was that it could be more of a self-contained Jon story, given that he was back up north, isolated at The Wall, and it wouldn’t need to explain what was happening everywhere else after the events of the show. Supposedly, Martin saw this as a “safe” bet, given that fact.

Now, we know what the show was planning, and it is mainly about Jon Snow in extremely rough shape as he marches toward his death:

• Snow was meant to live alone and be suffering from the medieval equivalent of PTSD
• He chased away Ghost, his Direwolf
• He threw away his famed sword, Longclaw
• He “spent his time building cabins and burning them back down again”
• Jon would not be a hero in the series
• He was going to die at the end. Woof.

The show was designed in part to echo some of the real-life personal mental health struggles of Kit Harrington after Game of Thrones ended. Harrington went to rehab in 2019, which he has since discussed openly.

But transferring all of that to Jon Snow for a TV show, especially after the unwelcome ending of Game of Thrones, which included his killing of fan-favorite Daenerys Targaryen, it did not exactly sound like a great next chapter for the story, or some way to redeem the ending of the main series. The show may not be entirely dead, however, as a new writer is reportedly coming on to figure things out. The latest is that a new series focused on Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark in Essos could be in the cards, but that’s just early talk for now.

This interview came just ahead of the launch of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the first season of a show that will adapt George RR Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, a project he is reportedly wild about, in stark contrast to his House of the Dragon experience, or the story getting away from him at the end of Thrones, moving into unwritten book territory. The show will run for six episodes through February, and it has already been renewed for a second season, which is not meant to be a one-off. A goal of HBO now appears to have a rotation of Game of Thrones projects in motion, at least one a year. Right now, that will alternate between Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon, but clearly, many more shows are being considered. And maybe Jon Snow isn’t dead yet, in more ways than one.

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