HBO’s Game of Thrones series is over, but there are still a few slivers of hope for Jon Snow. Just about every aspect of this fantasy TV show’s ending was controversial, and even after seven years, it still stings. Given how popular Game of Thrones became, it’s hard to say whether any ending, really, would have pleased anything close to the majority of viewers. Still, Jon Snow murdering Daenerys Targaryen after she suddenly becomes the Mad Queen was unlikely to be anyone’s version of a satisfying resolution.
It’s not just that Game of Thrones’ ending was painfully tragic—it was never likely that this series would have a happy ending. The trouble is that season 8 didn’t deliver on many of the fantasy show’s key story arcs. Elements that should have been pivotal came to absolutely nothing. Storylines that might have made sense, like Daenerys’ decline into needless violence, were so rushed that they no longer felt organic. Many of us dedicated years to Game of Thrones, but its ending didn’t seem to respect that sort of viewer commitment.
A prime example here is Jon Snow’s ending. From the very beginning of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington’s character stood out as something pretty spectacular. It was clear he had an important destiny in Westeros, and part of why we all tuned in was to see precisely what this would turn out to be. Our expectations went massively unrewarded. A whole lot went wrong with Jon Snow’s ending, and we’ve sat bitterly with this truth for seven years. Still, there’s reason to hold out hope for something better.
What Went Wrong With Jon Snow’s Ending In Game Of Thrones
Kit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones season 5, episode 5.MovieStillsDB
Before we can explore what the future could look like for Jon Snow, we need to identify what really went wrong with his character in Game of Thrones. Jon is the sort of figure in fiction that is easy to root for. He proved time and time again that he was born to lead, but as a bastard, that was an impossibility. This made him exactly the sort of underdog we all love. Seeing Jon climb from that lowly position to Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, King in the North, and then, finally, heir to the Iron Throne was deeply satisfying. There could be no doubt that Jon Snow was headed for greatness.
Of course, “greatness” never really happened. Jon Snow was brought back to life for some important purpose, but it wasn’t to kill the Night King or unite the people of Westeros. We never saw this lowly bastard reluctantly sit on the Iron Throne as the greatest ruler the realm had ever seen. The fact that Jon was actually a Targaryen—a massive reveal built up to with several seasons’ worth of foreshadowing—came to nothing. Instead, Jon’s destiny in Game of Thrones was to kill Daenerys. That’s the primary purpose behind his whole arc in HBO’s version of the story.
GRRM’s Books Can Give Jon Snow The Ending He Deserved
Image via MovieStillsDB.com
The most likely way that Jon Snow’s story could be fixed is through George R.R. Martin’s books. The author has famously yet to finish his A Song of Ice and Fire books, and HBO’s Game of Thrones proceeded onward without the source material beginning with season 6. Though it’s been reported that Martin told showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss how he planned to conclude his story, the author has expressly stated that the books will not end in the same way as Game of Thrones season 8. We are likely to see similarities, but, at this point, just about anything could be entirely different.
The A Song of Ice and Fire books have left off with Jon Snow’s death. He has yet to be resurrected by Melisandre, though the pieces are all in place for this to happen in the next book (Winds of Winter). There’s also been no overt revelation that Jon is Prince Rhaegar’s son, though this, too, has been alluded to. Martin’s books imply that Jon, Daenerys, and another Targaryen (there must be three) share a very specific destiny. All of this together implies that the potential we so love about this underdog might actually come to mean something in the canon version of the story.
Jon Snow’s Proposed Spinoff Could Give Kit Harington’s Character A New Ending
Another possibility regarding Jon Snow’s ending is the Game of Thrones spinoff show HBO has been playing around with ever since the original series concluded. The idea here is that a new TV show would outline what happened to Harington’s character after he killed Daenerys and was exiled North.
A big part of the frustration around Jon’s ending is that he ended up right back where he started. All of that, and he was simply thrown back to the Night’s Watch. If a spinoff series continued the story, then there would still be hope that this character’s development and sacrifices would come to something. Game of Thrones somewhat ambiguously implies that Jon’s destiny lies beyond the wall, but a sequel show would give us the chance actually to see it.
This isn’t as good a solution as Martin finishing A Song of Ice and Fire. First, a spinoff show like this would still be built on the foundation of Game of Thrones season 8’s ending. Second, Harington has stated that he no longer has any interest in returning to Game of Thrones, even if HBO finally manages to put together a viable script. So, while we could get a sequel show, it would likely revolve around a different actor’s version of Jon Snow.
Why Game Of Thrones Could End Up As Jon Snow’s One & Only Ending
Jon Snow cups Daenerys’ cheek in the throne room in Game of Thrones’ Ending
There really is reason to hope that there will be more to Jon Snow’s story than what we saw in HBO’s Game of Thrones. However, it’s also perfectly possible that neither of the above options will work out. Martin is long overdue for Winds of Winter, and though he has said he has every intention of finishing A Song of Ice and Fire, it could be decades before that actually happens. HBO’s Jon Snow spinoff series has been shelved a handful of times, and any recent reports that the project is back under consideration come from unconfirmed “sources” at HBO.
If Martin fails to finish A Song of Ice and Fire, we will likely never learn the author’s intended plan for Jon Snow’s character. If there is no Jon Snow spinoff, then the character’s Game of Thrones ending won’t be extended or improved. It would mean that what we have seen is all we will ever get. Still, we won’t know this for certain for many years to come.
Release Date
2011 – 2019-00-00
Showrunner
David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Directors
David Nutter, Alan Taylor, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff