Playing Sam in a Jon Snow sequel would feel like "a step backwards" for John Bradley

Game of Thrones ended in 2019. Daenerys Targaryen died, Bran Stark became king, and Jon Snow was sent back to the Wall to serve out the remainder of his life in the Night's Watch, although the door was left open as to whether he actually did that or whether he went into the far north to live with the wildlings. For a while now, we've known that HBO has been mulling making a potential follow-up project that would catch up with Jon Snow. Actor Kit Harington, who approached HBO with the idea, has said that nothing is happening at the moment, but you never know...

If such a project does come to pass, we might expect to see other beloved Game of Thrones characters involved. Perhaps Kristofer Hivju could return as the affable wildling Tormund Giantsbane, or maybe Jon could visit with his old best pal Samwell Tarly. Actor John Bradley has been getting some attention lately for playing snack food tycoon Jack Rooney in the Netflix sci-fi show 3 Body Problem, which is made by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss. But he doesn't see himself returning to the role of Sam.

“I’m not sure [that I’ll be in that],” Bradley told The New York Post. “It feels like David and Dan [Weiss] in ‘3 Body Problem’ have given me a whole new type of character to play. And, that cast off some of that Samwell Tarly persona, and some of the things that you associated with that character. I think that if I was to go back to it now, it would feel like a bit of a step backwards. I’m not sure that I could necessarily contact that character as easily as I could, then. I think I’ve changed as a person, and I think certain aspects of my personality have developed and diverged from what that character was at the time."

It's true that the character of Jack Rooney in 3 Body Problem is pretty far from Sam; Jack is opinionated, forthright and sometimes rude whereas Sam was often shy and nervous. Still, it's interesting to hear Bradley say that he wouldn't want to revisit Sam on account of his own personality having changed since Game of Thrones ended. As an actor, he was never playing himself, so couldn't he...act like Sam again if he wanted to?

Of course, if Bradley would rather move on from the Game of Thrones universe, that's 100% up to him. “It would be interesting to revisit [Sam] again. But, I was happy with the way his story ended,” he added. “It just feels like going back to it might take something away from my holistic view of that character’s arc.”

And a Jon Snow sequel project is just a theoretical thing right now, anyway. If and when HBO decides to make it, we can come back and see if folks like Bradley woud be interested in returning to their old roles.

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