Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has said the Jon Snow spin-off show announced by original author George R.R. Martin in 2022 was cancelled because the team couldn't find a story "worth doing."
Speaking to Collider, Harington said prequel shows like House of the Dragon and the incoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are a more "natural" addition to the Game of Thrones universe while sequels, like the Jon Snow spin-off, make less sense.
"I think a prequel is a natural thing to do. They did it with Better Call Saul, and with House of the Dragon," Harington said.
"You run into a lot of issues with a sequel. A lot of the cast are done with it by then. So, who are you bringing back? Are you bringing back the same people? So, no, I’m not surprised that a prequel is something that is easier to do. It’s not easier to do, but a more natural place to go.
"With ours, it was just about not finding the right story and not finding something that was worth doing, to bring me back to it and to stay in it. It just made less sense, the longer we went on with it, so we recanted."
Myriad Game of Thrones spin-offs have been announced and myriad have been cancelled since the main show's ending in 2019. Successes include House of the Dragon, the second season of which has just concluded, alongside A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which will adapt Martin's novella series.
Scrapped projects include a prequel based on an in-world apocalypse called The Long Night, which HBO cancelled even after spending $30 million on a pilot episode and a show called 10,000 Ships which would focus on a sea-faring city, alongside the Jon Snow show.
Harington seems a touch tired of Westeros anyway, recently saying he wasn't watching House of the Dragon because he's "spent too long there." He has no ill feelings towards it, but is happy stepping away after spending more than eight years with the main show.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
