Credit: Marvel StudiosKit Harington, former Marvel Cinematic Universe and Game of Thrones star, has confirmed it: he’s been canceled.
Only a few years ago, Kit Harington was one of the most up-and-coming actors in Hollywood. He burst into global prominence as Jon Snow, one of the central characters of the massively popular HBO series Game of Thrones, voiced a character in the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise, and made his MCU debut in Eternals (2021) as Dane Whitman, AKA the Black Knight.
Eternals, which was directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao and featured a powerhouse ensemble cast of Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie, was something of a commercial and critical disappointment for Marvel Studios. But it did have a post-credits scene featuring Kit Harington approaching the Ebony Blade, teeing him up to take his eventual role as one of the Avengers, and also introduced (via voiceover) Mahershala Ali as Blade, the day-walking vampire hunter.
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At the same time, HBO announced that it was developing a Game of Thrones spinoff series focused on Jon Snow, which would launch Kit Harington to a new level of stardom. Basically, the British actor seemed primed to hold parts in two of the biggest franchises of all time, which is a pretty enviable spot to be in.
That seems to have changed. Kit Harington has revealed (via ScreenRant) that both Marvel Studios and HBO have canceled any future plans for him. That’s pretty ice-cold, even for Jon Snow.
Kit Harington confirmed that the Jon Snow solo series had been shut down, saying:
“I hadn’t really ever spoken about it, because it was in development. I didn’t want it leaked out that it was being developed, and I didn’t want the thing to happen where people kind of start theorizing, getting either excited about it or hating the idea of it, when it may never happen. Because in development, you look at every angle, and you see whether it’s worth it.
And currently, it’s not. Currently, it’s off the table, because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough. So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.”
Notably, it is not as though HBO isn’t moving forward with Game of Thrones spinoffs. House of the Dragon season 2 will return to television in June, and a new series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, recently cast Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Talland Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg the Squire. Basically, they just don’t want Kit Harington.
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The actor also revealed that Marvel Studios seemed to have abandoned any plans for him to return as the Black Knight:
“I hope that they do something with that character. I think [Black Knight] is fascinating and brilliant. And I love his trajectory in the comics. I love the idea of a good guy being turned bad by his superpower. I think that’s brilliant. I’m not sure whether we’ve had a protagonist that’s like that, so I think it’s a really strong idea. I’d love them to [revisit him].
I don’t know, though. The honest answer is nothing’s in the works at the moment. If they decide to use the character in something, or as a solo thing, I’d be very excited by it. But I don’t think it’s planned at the moment.”
There have been long-standing rumors that Kit Harington would return as Dane Whitman alongside Mahershala Ali in the upcoming Blade movie, but that movie has been having a whole lot of problems of its own.
It sounds like Kit Harington won’t be showing up in any Avengers movies in the future or Beyond the Wall. That’s a pretty definitive cancelation.
Why do you think Jon Snow and the Black Knight have been shelved? Tell us in the comments below!