--- title: Game of Thrones Finale Recap: Is Jon Snow Really Dead? description: Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the fifth season finale of Game of Thrones canonical: https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-15T10:50:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:03.851Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Game of Thrones' Writer, Producer on Whether That Character Is Really Dead og:description: Spoiler alert og:url: https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e91cf108aa95be/6988543aa988cabdde6b2fd6/george-rr-martin.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: San Francisco Premiere Of HBO's "Game Of Thrones" Season 5 - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Game of Thrones' Writer, Producer on Whether That Character Is Really Dead twitter:description: Spoiler alert twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e91cf108aa95be/6988543aa988cabdde6b2fd6/george-rr-martin.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Game of Thrones_ Writer, Producer on Whether That Character Is _Really_ Dead by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 15, 2015 10:50 AM CUT  Writer/co-executive producer George R.R. Martin attends HBO's 'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Premiere at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on March 23, 2015 in San Francisco, California. Writer/co-executive producer George R.R. Martin attends HBO's 'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Premiere at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on March 23, 2015 in San Francisco, California.C Flanigan—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 15, 2015 10:50 AM CUT A [bloody season finale to _Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/3920690/game-of-thrones-recap-mothers-mercy-season-5-episode-10/ "undefined") on Sunday night saw the death of one of the show’s most beloved characters: Jon Snow. But is he really dead? Yes. “Dead is dead,” [showrunner Dan Weiss told Entertainment Weekly. ](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/14/game-thrones-jon-snow-really-dead "undefined") “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 said. “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?’” But George R.R. Martin, who wrote the books that inspired the show, isn’t so sure. “If there’s one thing we know in _A Song of Ice and Fire_ is that death is not necessarily permanent,” he said. [Read more at Entertainment Weekly ](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/14/game-thrones-jon-snow-really-dead "undefined") ### See The Real-Life People Who Inspired Game of Thrones Characters  From left: Cersei and Margaret of Anjou HBO; Getty Images  From Left: Khaleesi and Queen Elizabeth I. HBO; Getty Images  From Left: Melisandre and Bloody Mary Helen Sloan—HBO; Getty Images  From left: Talisa Stark and Anne Boleyn. Helen Sloan—HBO; Getty Images  From left: Brienne of Tarth and Joan of Arc. HBO; DeAgostini—Getty Images  From left: Henry VIII and Robert Baratheon. HBO; Getty Images  From left: Joffrey and Caligula. HBO; De Agostini—Getty Images _Read next:_ [_See How Arya’s Kill List Is Going on ‘Game of Thrones’_](http://time.com/3920558/arya-stark-game-of-thrones-meryn-trant/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/"},"headline":"Game of Thrones Writer, Producer on Whether That Character Is Really Dead","datePublished":"2015-06-15T10:50:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:03.851Z","description":"Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the fifth season finale of Game of Thrones","url":"https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e91cf108aa95be/6988543aa988cabdde6b2fd6/george-rr-martin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2e91cf108aa95be/6988543aa988cabdde6b2fd6/george-rr-martin.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"San Francisco Premiere Of HBO's \"Game Of Thrones\" Season 5 - Arrivals","caption":"San Francisco Premiere Of HBO's \"Game Of Thrones\" Season 5 - Arrivals","creditText":"C Flanigan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3920941/game-of-thrones-finale-recap-jon-snow/","name":"Game of Thrones Writer, Producer on Whether That Character Is Really Dead"}}]}] ```