Game of Thrones author, producer on whether that character is really dead 

Warning: This story contains a major revelation from Sunday’s

It depends which version of the epic tale of Westeros and Essos you’re referring to. 

fifth season finale and the final chapter in George R.R. Martin’s 2011 novel

, Snow was seemingly killed by his mutinous Night’s Watch brothers who object to their Lord Commander’s plan to enlist the Wildlings army against their common supernatural foe.  

When asked point-blank of Snow is firmly gone—as in, is actor Kit Harington released from his

“We would hope that after seeing the scene and the way it’s shot that the answer to that will be unambiguous in the minds of the people watching it,” Weiss explained. “It should be pretty clear what happens in by the time you’re done seeing that scene. It’s not an, ‘Oh what just happened scene?’” 

Yet Martin and his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, the answer seems to be: Maybe not.

“Oh, you think he’s dead, do you?” Martin teased us in an interview in 2011. “My readers should know better than to take anything as gospel.” 

More recently when asked about the topic, Martin told us: “If there’s one thing we know in A Song of Ice and Fire is that death is not necessarily permanent.”  

One fan theory is that Snow might have “warged” into his direwolf Ghost just before he died, keeping his spirit alive in the physical world even though his body had perished. Another is that Melisandre could revive Snow much the same way another Lord of Light practitioner Thoros resurrected Beric Dondarrion in both the books and the series. Those answers won’t be discovered until Martin’s next novel is published,

When I asked Martin what was Jon’s biggest “mistake,” the author thoughtfully replied, “Were they mistakes? I guess they were mistakes in some ways since they led to him losing control of part of his group. But it might have been wise and necessary decisions in terms of protecting the realm and dealing with the threat of the White Walkers. I’m a huge student of history, and all through history there’s always this question of what’s the right decision. You look back with benefit of hindsight at a battle that was lost and say, ‘The losing general was such an idiot.’ Was Napoleon a genius for all the battles he won? Or an idiot for losing at Waterloo? Partly I’m reacting to a lot of the fantasy that has come before this. Ruling is difficult whether you’re a Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch or the King of England. These are hard decisions and each have consequences. We’re looking at Jon trying to take control of Night’s Watch and deal with The Wildlings and the threat beyond The Wall, and we’re looking at Cersei and Dany in their kingdoms and their choices.” 

But as for HBO’s hit series, Jon’s fate is seemingly more clear. When filming a show or movie, the ambiguity of Martin’s final

chapter is tougher to pull off, Weiss noted. A producer typically has to clearly commit to a character’s fate, one way or the other, and here it seems Thrones has embraced the idea Jon is dead. We’re hedging our bets just a little, because when it comes to season 6, like Jon Snow, we know nothing. 

“In a book, you can present that kind of ambiguity,” Weiss said. “In a show, everybody sees it for what it is. It’s that rule: ‘If don’t see the body then they’re not really dead.’ Like when we cut Ned’s head off, we didn’t want a gory Monty Python geyser of blood, but we needed to see the blade enter his neck and cut out on the frame where the blade was mid-neck—it was longest discussion ever of where to cut a frame; two hours of talking about whether to cut at frame six or frame seven or frame eight. And that’s all by way of saying we needed Ned’s death to be totally unambiguous. I remember reading the book and going back and forth, like, ‘Did I miss something? Was [Ned] swapped out for somebody else?’ There’s a level of ambiguity because you’re not seeing something starkly represented. In the book, you can write around things to preserve a certain level of mystery that you have to commit to on screen.” 

This would not the first time the books and the show has declined to potentially resurrect a central character. In Martin’s books [book spoilers], Catelyn Stark’s vengeful spirit is resurrected as Lady Stoneheart, but that character has not appeared in the show and does not seem to be a part of the showrunners’ plan. And Wildling leader Mance Rayder was firmly killed off when he was burned at the stake in the show’s fifth season finale, but in the books the burning scene was a Melisandre-aided illusion, and Mance later popped up in Ramsay’s court at Winterfell. 

“What are you gonna do?” Weiss said. “Kit’s a good looking guy. He’s very talented. He’s very sweet, and very easy to work with. It will be a sad day shooting that scene.” 

For much more on this topic, here’s our interview with Kit Harington who has a very clear opinion on the “Is Jon dead?” subject. 

Also read: EW’s deep-dive recap of the season finale, plus our interview with Lena Headey about that Walk of Shame scene. 

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