He’s really gone! Game of Thrones star Kit Harington, aka Jon Snow in the epic HBO series, has revealed that the show’s favorite hero really did die in Sunday, June 14’s finale episode, and he definitely won’t be coming back next season.
As fans flocked to social media to lament what appeared to be the death of one of their most beloved GoT characters in the shocking season five finale, Harington spoke to EW and confirmed that Snow really has bitten the dust.
“I had a sit-down with Dan and David, we did the Tony Soprano walk [letting an actor know they’re being whacked],” Harington, 28, told the outlet. “They said, ‘Look, you’re gone, it’s done.'”
And despite reports last year, that his salary negotiations had put him in line for a season six raise, the hunky British actor insists the season five finale really is his final bow.
“As far as the salary thing goes, that angered me when that story came out. I don’t know where it came from, but it was inaccurate in many ways. It’s going to put questions into your head and into fans’ heads that things are not what they are,” he said. “Quite honestly, I have never been told the future of things in this show, but this is the one time I have. They sat me down and said, ‘This is how it is.’ If anything in the future is not like that, then I don’t know about it — it’s only in David and Dan and George’s heads. But I’ve been told I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m not coming back next season. So that’s all I can tell you, really.”
As soon as the season finale aired, fans flooded onto Twitter to share their grief and beg TV bosses to save their hero, something Harington will be pleased to see.
“I will be really interested to see the audience reaction,” he told the magazine before the finale had aired. “I hope it’s not, “F–k yes, thank f–k he’s dead!”
One thing Harington has struggled with is the fact that Snow died before he ever found out who his mother was (“that’s the heartbreaking thing for me,” the actor said). But while his character’s exit was a bitter pill to swallow for the handsome actor, he did appreciate being given the final scene for his grand exit.
“I kind of knew it was coming,” he revealed. “I didn’t read [George R.R. Martin’s novel] A Dance with Dragons. But I read the other books and I had heard this is what happens. So I had an inkling it should be this season. I didn’t realize it would be the final shot of the season and that made it extra special. It’s always kind of nice really when you’re the last thing that happens in that episode,” he added.
“I loved how they brought Olly in to be the person who kills me. I love how the storyline with Thorne was wrapped up. I think it was really well crafted,” he continued. “It felt like the right way for it to happen.”
Offscreen, however, Harington wasn’t keen to make such a dramatic exit.
“I got a big wrap and, like any of the actors who die on Thrones, I just wanted to f–k off out of there,” the actor said. “I got a tear in my eye. I was more moved and emotional than I thought I’d be,” he admitted.
