To say that Game of Thrones has had the stink of its controversial ending hovering over it for three years would be an understatement, but HBO thinks that enough time has passed to attempt a larger franchise.
Its first successful effort at this comes in the form of House of the Dragon, premiering about two months from now, and it previously had several shows in the works that all got canned, including one starring Naomi Watts. And just before the weekend began, it announced its plans to bring back Kit Harrington — who’s still possibly got another Marvel obligations in his future — to play the eternally unlucky Jon Snow in a spinoff of his own.
It can’t be understated how much GoT’s ending — and the final season overall — has scuttled the goodwill the series accrued during its previous seven seasons. House of the Dragon already has an uphill battle to climb as the first spinoff that will try and recapture the audience’s attention, and this new Snow spinoff, should it even come about, will have even worse odds stacked against it. In an age where IP and fan demands run the world, Game of Thrones did the impossible and made it so that no one would really be interested in more of it until George RR Martin decides to stop providing lore for From Software games and release Winds of Winter.