HBO Addresses Jon Snow Sequel After OutKick Story

Last Friday, OutKick randomly wondered aloud whatever happened to the rumored Jon Snow sequel series.

None of the involved parties had referenced the project since last December. We ultimately concluded that the chances were minimal that HBO would ever greenlight the spinoff.

Since our story, several other sites have asked the same question. That includes TVLine which spoke to the HBO CEO Casey Bloys about the status of the show on Monday.

Bloys says, "We greenlit ‘Dunk and Egg’ in the spring. “I wouldn’t say there is anything else in that world that is close to a greenlight or anything."

The interview concluded the spinoff, with the working title "Snow," "isn’t happening anytime soon."

"For the foreseeable future, HBO’s lineup will be like Westeros during the Long Summer: No sign of Snow," wrote the author.

While fans are quick to note Bloys didn't say "no," I maintain that HBO is unlikely to outright confirm the show will not move forward.

It does not behoove the network to close the door and invite more scrutiny -- this is the spinoff they want -- to a franchise that has struggled with positive fanfare since the much-maligned "Game of Thrones" finale in 2019.

It's more likely HBO will keep the project in its back pocket, if needed.

However, there's a window by which greenlighting the sequel would no longer be wise. And that window is quickly closing.

Networks can order prequel series at any time because they feature different characters, settings, eras, storylines, and timelines.

By contrast, George R.R. Martin said that "Snow" would pick up immediately following the events of "Thrones" with obviously the same protagonist. In some ways, it would be another season of the "original series"Game of Thrones," just featuring fewer of the original cast.

The idea is there. But as history screams: you can only wait so long to release a sequel or it ends up sucking.

For example, the sequel timeline of "Better Call Saul" proved worthy because AMC aired it 18 months after the finale of "Breaking Bad." The storyline, following Saul Goodman, was still fresh and didn't require viewers to go on a week-long binge of its predecessor.

Consider that it has already been three and half years since the end of "Thrones." HBO says the Snow series is not close to being greenlit. The show would be heavily contingent on CGI. You couple those factors together and figure the soonest the show could air is -- what? -- 2027, nearly a decade after we last saw Jon Snow?

There are numerous reasons "The Godfather Part III" failed, but none more prominent than Francis Ford Coppola releasing the film 16 years (!!!) after "Part II."

Perhaps I should amend my prediction from saying "Snow" won't ever come to light to it shouldn't ever come to light.

I, like many "Thrones" fans, clamored for the sequel when the project was first leaked almost two years ago.

However, HBO decided to order a "Dunk and Egg "prequel (George R.R. Martin said the network had the choice) instead.

HBO had a window to bring back Jon Snow. It missed its opportunity, for one reason or another.