HBO Developing a Jon Snow Sequel Series

HBO is in early developments to create a Game of Thrones sequel series focused on Jon Snow, the Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday night.

"Kit Harington is attached to reprise the role should a series move forward," the report says.

HBO has not officially ordered the series yet. So the network could still torpedo the project before the pilot airs. But the pressure is on HBO to get this show on-screen following the positive reaction to the leak last night.

This news comes out of nowhere. Until now, each of the rumored GoT spinoffs in development are prequels set hundreds of years before the events of the original series: 10,000 Ships, 9 Voyages and Dunk and Egg.

House of the Dragon, set 200 years before, debuts this August and tells the tale of a Targaryen civil war.

Extending a timeline past the finale of a series is a rare practice in television. A Jon Snow sequel series would upend GoT's series finale as the last word from Westeros.

And that's likely what has given this proposed script life. The continuation of Jon's journey would substitute the sour feelings the series left fans with an objectively low-quality final season.

That's the difference in stakes between a sequel and a prequel. While House of the Dragon, with an entirely new cast of characters, expands the GoT universe, it won't change the perception of the original series.

By contrast, Jon is the face of Westeros, and thus fans will largely judge the GoT legacy on how his story ends.

Last we saw Jon, he was riding off beyond the Wall after he was exiled for killing Queen Daenerys Targaryen. Jon Snow is now a wildling.

GoT fans are speculating the series could focus on Jon trying to find his way back into the Six Kingdoms (the North is now independent) or the Stark-ruled North. However, going to the other side of the Wall would require the inclusion of at least King Bran Stark and/or Queen of the North Sansa Stark. At that point, the show would essentially be the ninth season of GoT.

The report says "spinoff," suggesting the show will focus on Jon and not the previous cast. So I suspect the show to take place in the far North.

Now, Jon may summon his old friends at some point. If there is a great threat deep into the North, Jon may need the face-changer Arya Stark, who is sailing the sea beyond the map, and Bran's Three-Eyed Raven abilities to help.

The idea of Jon living with the wildlings is intriguing and uncharted. George R.R. Martin's source material never took readers far enough North to know what life is like in that direction.

HBO wanted to explore the deep North following the end of GoT but ultimately canceled a planned series about the White Walkers' origins. And though the White Walkers no longer exist -- at least, not that we know of -- the possibilities of other threatening ice creatures are endless.

I've talked myself into The True Heir to Iron Throne -- my working title that HBO ought to consider.

Jon Snow and loyal GoT fans deserve this project. Jon is owed a better ending than what he got.