Winter is coming, but when it does, it will bring the long-awaited Game of Thrones spin-off series House of the Dragon.
It is due to land in late fall, but before a second has been shown on television, it has been usurped by a much larger announcement. Like the dragon swooping over King’s Landing in the (disappointing) final episode of the series, a huge shadow has been cast over the release of the new series, and Kit Harrington, aka Jon Snow, is riding that dragon.
Harrington has been credited as a driving influence behind a second spin-off series, working title Snow, set to see him reprise his role as Jon Snow. It won’t be the first time he’s reprised the role, not technically anyway, as he was killed off and returned from the dead in the Game of Thrones series, but this is different; it’s not just Game of Thrones-themed media; it is a genuine continuation of the series and world that fans fell head over heels in love with.
Game of Thrones has become a cultural behemoth, influencing television, film and gaming. We’ve seen so much media ‘like’ Game of Thrones since the final episode aired; The Last Kingdom on Netflix filled a huge Westeros-shaped hole in people’s lives, and Newsweek reveals there’s a film coming featuring the adventures of Uhtred, son of Uhtred. In gaming, whilst actual Game of Thrones licensed content was pretty average, titles such as The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition picked up the threads for fans. There’s also an online slot game from Gala Casino. The title is called Slingo Fire and Ice, which didn’t carry the Game of Thrones branding but was very much like the show, right down to the music. War Dragon on iOS and Android was the same; it put you on dragons raining down fire, just like at the end of Game of Thrones.
Whilst the hunger for things like Game of Thrones goes on, fans will finally be delighted at the news there will be more actually Game of Thrones; not a series set a hundred years before or featuring a character you’ve never heard of, but a bona fide opportunity to see how Jon Snow is getting on. Will we see any cameos from co-stars? It depends on which haven’t found acting work since we guess! One person who hasn’t worked much since (despite turning up in the Friends Reunion episode) is Harrington.
“He [Harrington] has told me about it,” said co-star Emilia Clarke, unlikely to reprise her role as Khaleesi, given that she’s dead. “And I know it exists. It’s happening. It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up.” Her belief that Harrington is a driving force behind the show was reinforced by Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin, who wrote on his blog, “It seems as though Emilia Clarke has already mentioned that SNOW was Kit’s idea in a recent interview. So that part is out. Yes, 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.”
It’s the news Game of Thrones fans have waited for. Just a few short months before they can stop searching for digital media like Game of Thrones and get stuck into House of the Dragoon. Once that’s concluded, they know that dessert is going to be a dedicated follow-up from the original series, something that can hopefully erase the memories of the substandard ending to the original series.