As the Seven Kingdoms' mopiest bastard, Jon Snow, Kit Harington has been through a lot over Game of Thrones' seven seasons. He shipped off immediately to perform the most miserable job in Westeros at The Night's Watch, learned raven-by-raven that his adopted family were being horrifically murdered one after the other, his first love was a Wildling who shot him in the ass with an arrow and then died at the hands of a tween, he died, came back to life, a bug-eyed Bolton goblin took shelter in his childhood home, and then, when Jon finally found romantic happiness and a boat bed partner in the form of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), whoops, that's his aunt. So after all that emotional baggage, would Harington consider giving it another go-around for one of the many Game of Thrones spinoffs being developed by HBO?
"Not on your life," says the actor. Harington spoke to the BBC while promoting his role in the London production of Sam Shepard's True West and ended up ruling out a return trip to Winterfell.
"It was emotional to leave [Game of Thrones], definitely. But I wouldn't say I was sad," Harington said. "If like me you go all the way back to the pilot of Game of Thrones that's almost 10 years of your life - that's really unusual in an actor's career. It was a huge emotional upheaval leaving that family. But would I want to go back and do more? Not on your life."
Of course, we've been hoodwinked by this man and his wonderful hair before, back when Jon Snow was killed by his Night's Watch brothers in the season five finale, only to be sponge-bathed back to life in season six's "Home." But you have to expect he means it this time, considering Game of Thrones—well, the first era of Game of Thrones—is actually coming to a close for good. The six-episode eighth season—which premieres in April 2019—will be the HBO series' last, pending some truly monumental fuckery.
Meanwhile, we're definitely getting at least one spinoff, a prequel set thousands of years before the main show starring Naomi Watts “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.” Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service) wrote the pilot from a story developed alongside A Song of Ice and Fire creator George R.R. Martin. Here's the official logline:
“The series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.”
And if that doesn't get your Red Viper squirmin', despair not; buy the complete series box-set and you'll get a reunion special with the entire ensemble cast.
