The cartographers of the world of Game of Thrones haven’t documented beyond Westeros and Essos, which makes for another easy blank canvas for a future creative team to paint themselves.
Maisie Williams’ character went on a bleak globetrotting journey following the Stark family’s cruel separation, and the final season sees Arya decide to leave again to explore literal uncharted territory. Just as ambiguous as Jon’s ending in Game of Thrones season 8 was Arya Stark’s. If done right and placed in deft and tactful hands, this could be HBO’s chance at an excellent comeback for a character that deserves to maintain a place in the “hall of fame” for iconic pop culture fantasy heroes. And just like the original show opens by setting up all the moving pieces on the bloody chess board, Jon Snow’s journey through a newer part of the world to him could be one of those intimate and methodically placed narrative pieces for HBO’s potential sequel series. Game of Thrones- for the most part - was consistently strong in balancing action set pieces with character-driven drama, and it was arguably at its best in the tense and/or quieter moments of the latter.
Likewise, Jon was the only one in centuries to bother to see the Free Folk as they are, instead of exclusively as ravenous “Wildlings.” Spending those years seeing their humanity and trying to unite the bitter factions on the opposite sides of the Wall against a daunting, more important threat could use Jon trying to help reorganize them alongside Tormund in season 8’s aftermath as another great buildup story. On top of just getting to see Jon and Tormund Giantsbane’s friendship on the small screen again, the vastness of the northern-most regions of Westeros could justify new adventures that eventually feed into a grander storyline and conflict. If nothing else, Jon Snow’s curtain call in season 8 is just open-ended enough to provide a fresh showrunner(s) and writing team with the springboard to start a new character arc. That being said, seeing Jon’s life in the “True North” with the Free Folk offers a refreshing blank slate of a premise - or at least the setup for one. With the Night King defeated along with his army of White Walkers, the Night’s Watch doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose - nor a certain Grey Worm to stay and enforce Jon’s banishment in the first place. Jon Snow’s character arc was arguably the second most disappointing in Game of Thrones season 8, just behind Daenerys Targaryan’s, with the White Wolf being surprisingly banished to the Night’s Watch and presumably living out his days beyond the wall. Despite the wildly ambitious nature of a potential Jon Snow Game of Thrones sequel show, there are quite a few general premises HBO can explore. Martin hasn’t provided any source material beyond the A Song of Ice and Fire saga (or the last two novels).
That’s especially so considering series author George R. HBO already has the highly-anticipated prequel House of the Dragonset to premiere this August to chronicle the beginning of the end for the Targaryans’ once-dominant influence over Westeros, but Kit Harington could lead Game of Thrones to even more uncharted territory.