Game of Thrones fans were so happy this week, the cast of The Knight of the 7 Kingdoms confirmed, images of The Conquest of Aegon showrunner starting work, but with Mercury retrograde combined with the solar eclipse still some risk on the horizon. And the victim? Snow. That’s right, the project didn’t even get off the ground and was cancelled.

“I didn’t want it to get out that it was being developed. I didn’t want something to happen where people started theorizing, getting excited about it, or hating the idea, when that might never happen. Because in development you look at all angles and see if it’s worth it,” Kit Harington said in an interview about the film Blood for Dust. “We couldn’t find the right story to tell. So, we decided to stop for now. There may be a time in the future when we consider it again, but not at the moment. It’s firmly on the shelf,” he warned.

Yes, it’s heartbreaking.

Since commenting that Snow, the continuation of Game of Thrones focused solely on Jon Snow, was being considered by MAX, Harington has stirred up fans of the franchise, in particular, the large portion dissatisfied with the conclusion of the story. Obviously, an ultra-sensitive topic, as no one in the cast criticized showrunners D.B. Weiss and Daniel Benioff about the controversial decisions of the final season, and even the praise sounded more like an embarrassed compromise with the two than actually agreeing with what we saw. Including Kit Harington, whose initial outbursts were later claimed to be ironic. Really?

The fact is that many of us hoped that Snow would be the extra hours we needed to adjust some loose details, even if it wouldn’t resolve the more complex issue that was the death of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke).

The shelving of the project, even if “for now”, confirms MAX’s dissatisfaction and fear of stirring the hornet’s nest created by D&D with the two’s frustrated attempt to create surprises with the conclusion of GOT.

“I think we knew it was going to be controversial, I think we were hoping it would be a little more 50/50. I think you’d expect a better ratio of… We definitely didn’t want it to be so much hate. We were prepared for some of it,” David Benioff acknowledged in a 2024 interview with D.B. Weiss adding, “I guess I didn’t really take network effects into account. Network effects can help the program when they are working in your favor as a positive feedback loop… It’s hypocritical to love it when it’s blowing your way and decide it’s the end of the world when it’s going the other way. But yeah, I think maybe that was the part we hadn’t taken into account, knowing that some people would like it and some people wouldn’t.”

When announced in 2022, Snow was one of five paths being studied for the future of the franchise, two of which were confirmed (The Knight of the 7 Kingdoms and The Conquest of Aegon), and House of the Dragon won a second season that will premiere shortly more than 60 days. So now “one remains” that we don’t know yet, but which could be the animation part.

The cancellation of Snow, as well as the discarding of Bloodmoon, which even had a pilot recorded, suggests that any reference to the Game of Thrones universe is still considered too risky to dare to come close to. After all, it’s only been five years since it went off the air and negativity is still very present on social media. Bloodmoon would address the origin of the White Walkers and Snow, of course, would show how Jon would resume his life in exile.

“It was Kit Harrington who brought us the idea,” George R.R. Martin confirmed 2 years ago, “I can’t say the names of the writers/showrunners, as it hasn’t been cleared for release yet, but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are fantastic,” praised the author.

So, let’s settle for what we had on screen and dream that one day, who knows, we’ll know how Game of Thrones ends in the books. Apparently, we will never know for sure.

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