Last week, news broke that HBO was in development on a “Game of Thrones” sequel series centered around Kit Harington’s Jon Snow character, the latest in a large suite of projects being developed that have their start in the world created by George R.R. Martin and dramatized by the blockbuster series (which concluded in the summer of 2019). Now, both Martin and Daenerys Targaryen herself Emilia Clarke are talking about the new series and its somewhat surprising origins.
According to Martin, who posted about the news on his website’s Not-a-Blog section, the project is codenamed “Snow” and has been development as long as the other “Game of Thrones”-adjacent series that HBO is developing, which are “Ten Thousand Ships” (from Amanda Segel), “Sea Snake” aka “Nine Voyages” (from “Rome” creator Bruno Heller) and a show centered around characters Dunk and Egg, from “The Pursuit of Happyness” writer Steve Conrad. (There are also some animated projects in development.) “For whatever reason it was never announced and it never leaked… until now,” Martin wrote.
Martin also confirms what Emilia Clarke said in an interview with the BBC – that the new show was created by Harington himself. “It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up,” Clarke told them. “Yes, it was Kit Harington who brought the idea to us,” Martin wrote on his blog. “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.”
And yes, Martin is involved in this new show, just as he is involved with all the others. Harington’s team visited Martin at his home in Santa Fe and they worked with Martin and Martin’s team of writers and consultants “to hammer out the show.” According to Martin, scripts have been written and re-written but “Snow” (and any of the other “Game of Thrones” spin-offs, beyond “House of the Dragon” which premieres in August) have yet to be given a greenlight. “The likelihood of all four series getting on the air… well, I’d love it, but that’s not the way it works, usually,” Martin wrote, lamenting several projects that he toiled on in the television space that never aired.
Martin’s “Dark Winds” (based on the novels by Tony Hillerman) just premiered on AMC. “House of the Dragon” premieres on HBO and HBO Max August 21.
