'Game of Thrones' director David Nutter has confirmed the bad news that Jon Snow really is dead.
Snow, played by 28-year-old Kit Harington, served his final turn in the series by being savagely stabbed to death by a gang of bloodthirsty Night's Watchmen, the Independent reported.
Countless Reddit threads dissected Snow's final vow to find hints that there were sparks of life left in the character, while others speculated that he will be brought back to life by the priestess Melisandre or that he never actually died to begin with.
However, Nutter have put a spanner in the works for any hopeful theorists, saying that he can say emphatically that Jon Snow is definitely dead.
He added that "great guy" Harington was sad to leave the crew and it's an emotional feeling as well, but he felt it was important to set up the sequence as quickly as possible so people didn't expect it or wait for it. "I didn't want it to linger. I wanted it to catch you by surprise."
He noted that his concern was to take care of Jon Snow, and "he's now deader than dead."
Harington himself seemed to also confirm the statement, saying "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.