Game of Thrones may have ended in 2019, but apparently no one is quite ready to say goodbye to the Starks for good. Not the fans, not HBO and, judging by recent developments, not even the actors themselves. After months of rumors about a possible continuation centered on Arya Stark, Kit Harington has now done something that seemed unlikely not long ago: he has reopened the door to Jon Snow.

Before we start celebrating a family reunion, however, it is important to separate rumor from confirmation. HBO has not officially announced an Arya Stark series. The project emerged in early 2026 as one of the possibilities being explored to continue Game of Thrones after the original series finale, with Arya as one of the characters capable of carrying an actual sequel rather than another prequel.

The idea makes perfect sense. Of all the main characters, Arya arguably had the most deliberately open ending. While Sansa became Queen in the North, Bran remained in King’s Landing and Jon Snow returned beyond the Wall, Arya simply boarded a ship to discover what lay west of Westeros.

It was practically an invitation to continue the story. Maisie Williams is aware of the rumors and recently discussed the possibility of playing Arya again. She did not confirm that she is involved in any project, but she did not rule it out either. Her main caveat is an interesting one: after all these years, Arya would have to have changed. Williams has grown up, and the character would have to grow up with her. And that is precisely when Jon Snow reappears.

Kit Harington told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that a series centered on the character was developed for roughly two years. The project, informally known as Snow, would have followed Jon after the end of Game of Thrones, but it was eventually shelved because Harington, HBO and George R.R. Martin could not find a story that truly justified continuing. And Harington himself was one of the people who decided to stop.

For some time, the actor appeared to want a considerable amount of distance between himself and the character he played for nearly a decade. Now something has changed. Harington says he still believes there is a world in which a Jon Snow story could work and, more importantly, that after playing other characters he finally feels more comfortable with Jon and with the place Game of Thrones occupies in his life.

That does not mean Snow is back in development. It isn’t. Nor does it mean Kit Harington has signed any contract to return to Westeros. But it does mean that a door that was closed no longer is. And that makes Arya’s possible return considerably more interesting.

The Game of Thrones finale sent the Starks in four different directions. For years, continuing their story seemed complicated precisely because each character had been given a kind of individual epilogue. A series devoted exclusively to Jon Snow risked being too bleak and too small after the epic scale of Game of Thrones. A series devoted exclusively to Arya would essentially have to build an entirely new world outside Westeros. Together, however, those two problems could become a solution.

There have already been reports that HBO was considering exactly that: abandoning the idea of a series focused solely on Jon and expanding the sequel by incorporating Arya and potentially moving the story into other territories. We do not know whether that approach is still being discussed, but it becomes considerably more plausible when Maisie Williams leaves the door open and Kit Harington now does exactly the same.

And there is an emotional reason why it could work. Jon and Arya always shared one of the strongest relationships among the Stark siblings. He gave her Needle. Arya never stopped considering him her brother, even after the revelation about his true parentage. Among the many reunions in Game of Thrones, theirs was also one of the most eagerly anticipated.

A sequel would not have to erase the endings they received in 2019. It could begin precisely with them. Arya went searching for what lay beyond the maps. Jon ended up where maps practically cease to matter. Seven years later, perhaps there is a story precisely in the space between them.

There is, however, a new question hanging over any possible return to Westeros. Paramount is now very close to taking over Warner Bros. Discovery — and with it HBO and Game of Thrones — in a multibillion-dollar deal that will once again reshape Hollywood.

It is easy to imagine Game of Thrones, one of the most valuable properties in the package, remaining a priority. But this is also an extraordinarily expensive franchise. Maintaining House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, both already established projects, is one thing. Opening the checkbook again for a sequel starring some of the original series’ most famous actors is another.

Perhaps, then, the question is no longer simply whether Maisie Williams and Kit Harington would agree to return. It is whether the future owner of Westeros will be willing to pay for the journey. But after seven years of hearing that the end of Game of Thrones really was the end, two doors that once seemed firmly closed are suddenly slightly open again.

Arya Stark and Jon Snow. Let’s face it: we have been much farther away from Westeros than this.