Last week, we learned that HBO was developing a Game of Thrones sequel series about Jon Snow. A million questions immediately arose. Will we find out what happens to him after he goes beyond the Wall in the Game of Thrones series finale? Is it a good idea to do a sequel so soon after the original show ended? Whose idea was this?
We still don’t have many details, but Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) shed light on that last question while talking to BBC News. The way she talks about the show, it sounds like it was the brainchild of actor Kit Harington, who played Jon for all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. “He has told me about it,” Clarke said. “And I know it exists. It’s happening.”
"It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up. So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington."
Now, Clarke isn’t on the inside at HBO, so we don’t have to take everything she says 100% literally, but it’s still very interesting to hear how involved Harington is in this. Did he come to HBO with this pitch, I wonder, or did they go to him?
Hopefully we’ll find out more in the weeks and months to come.
Emilia Clarke is “done” playing Daenerys Targaryen
Meanwhile, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon will air in August, and Clarke is “fascinated” to see what it’s like. “It’s going to be weird as hell.”
"I’m going to watch this as a fresh viewer because it’s [set] a be-jillion years before our show, so it’s going to feel different."
“Be-jillion” is a good approximation, but House of the Dragon is actually set 200 years before Game of Thrones and will tell the story of a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty, back when they were at the height of their power. It may indeed be odd for Clarke to watch a gaggle of actors wearing Targaryen blonde wigs and riding dragons when that was her exclusive thing for years.
Perhaps it will ignite a desire in Clarke to return to Westeros? “No, I think I’m done,” she laughed.
Emilia Clarke knows people are going to see her new play because she was in Game of Thrones
As for what she’s moving on to, Clarke will appear as Nina in a production of Anton Chekhov’s 1895 play The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London from June 29 through September 10. “I’m profoundly aware of the fact that there will be people who love Game of Thrones and are seeing it for that,” she said. “It’s 10 times more frightening because there’ll be people wanting to go and say, ‘Well she can only act on camera, she clearly can’t act on stage,’ which is obviously the biggest fear.”
"Hopefully they’ll come and go, ‘We just came to see the Mother of Dragons, oh how frustrating, she’s not on a dragon, this isn’t what I paid for.’ Spoiler: I’m not on a dragon at any point during this play. But hopefully what they get, as a kind of little extra, is that they get to enjoy this play that they might not have seen otherwise."
As for House of the Dragon, the new series premieres on August 21 on HBO and HBO Max.
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