HBO has released a new poster for season six of Game of Thrones this morning, perhaps not-so-cryptically featuring the bloodied face of actor Kit Harington as Jon Snow.
A much-beloved character on the popular series, Snow was stabbed repeatedly to end season five, with many fans believing him to be dead. The series has historically had no issue killing off pivotal members of the Stark family, with Snow’s father, Ned Stark, getting the axe in season one, and another large chunk of the cursed family being slaughtered at the infamous “Red Wedding” in season 3.
If the new poster for the show is to be believed, it appears Snow may not have been killed in the attack after all.
APRIL. #GoTSeason6 #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/DSK2xZi9i9
— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) November 23, 2015
The new promotional image shows the character upright and looking down, and follows recent on-set photographs of Harrington dressed and shooting new frames on the series’ Belfast set. This means that either Snow has some flashback shots in next season of Game of Thrones (which many have disputed as Snow isn’t wearing his normal black garb of the Night’s Watch),or he continues to be a pivotal character in the series moving forward.
If he lives on, just how Harington’s character survived so many stab wounds is anyone’s guess, but various forms of magic have continually been a part of the show’s plot. In theory, some form of sorcery might allow writers to bring Snow back from the dead.
Of all the times to un-kill a main character, now is a good one. Previous seasons of Game of Thrones have been largely based off of the novels by George R.R. Martin, but the upcoming season ventures into uncharted territory; With Martin having yet to publish book six of the series, the show’s writing team (under Martin’s watch) now has the ability to outline the future of the series’ main characters, rather than relying Martin’s fleshed out plots.
Whether or not he lived or died in the season finale of season five, executives at HBO are clearly enjoying the frequent speculation as to the status of Snow, and will probably continue to tease fans in order to build hype until the first episodes for the new season begin airing in April 2016.