‘Game of Thrones’ Creators Discuss Jon Snow Sequel Idea, Returning to Franchise

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are giving their thoughts on the Jon Snow sequel that HBO is/was developing — and whether they’d ever return to the hit TV franchise they created. 

Last November, the duo sat in their Los Angeles production company offices talking about their upcoming Netflix sci-fi drama 3 Body Problem for The Hollywood Reporter’s cover story. While that article had the Emmys winners’ reaction to the season eight backlash and tackled a couple other Thrones topics, Benioff and Weiss actually talked a bit more about their former show just as our interview was winding down. (The first of these additional exchanges was posted earlier this week, with the duo revealing one thing they’d change about Thrones).

Benioff and Weiss were adamant that they don’t want to look backward in their careers (“It was really important to move on and put Westeros behind us,” Benioff said about 3 Body Problem). But I threw in hypothetical: “What if, many years from now, you finish making 3 Body Problem, and HBO calls. They still haven’t cracked that Jon Snow sequel idea they had in development, and they ask you to take that on. Would you consider returning to the franchise?” 

Surprisingly, Benioff and Weiss stopped just shy of outright rejecting the idea. 

“I don’t know …” Benioff said.

“It would be so great; nothing would make us happier than to work with our people from that show,” Weiss said. “But there are a lot of other ways to make that happen that are fresh and exciting for everyone involved. Also, unless [Kit Harington] has been doing a lot of working out, that’s a really heavy cloak for a guy in his 40s to carry around — it’s like 60 pounds.”

I suggest picking up Snow’s story is one of those ideas that becomes more interesting if more time goes by first.

Benioff nods. “Like in The Color of Money — that was a good sequel,” he said, referring to 61-year-old Paul Newman playing pool hustler “Fast Eddie” Felson decades after playing the role in The Hustler.  

“Maybe when we’re 80 and Kit’s approaching retirement, he can throw that cloak on again with real gray in his beard,” Weiss said. 

“One last ride …” Benioff said. 

(The Snow project was put into development two years ago. HBO boss Casey Bloys told THR this week there’s “lots in development” based on author George R.R. Martin’s fantasy world but declined to discuss the status of specific projects.)

Benioff and Weiss then walked over to one of their favorite office decorations: A huge knitted medieval tapestry honoring the creatives and crew behind Thrones. It was gift from Thrones star Emilia Clarke, and its woven inscriptions are peppered with her sly humor (one declares “more blood, less clothes,” another references “House Martin” as “unwritten” — as in author George R.R., who’s been working on the sixth book in his saga for quite a while).

I asked if they “miss it” — being on the Thrones set — even as notoriously cold and rainy and muddy and miserable as those long night shoots in Northern Ireland so often were. 

“Oh yeah,” Benioff said immediately. “All the time.”