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Kit Harington has confirmed he has left Game of Thrones and Jon Snow is dead.

The actor, who has starred in the HBO fantasy epic since the pilot but in the season five finale was murdered by his own men, also revealed that he was sacked from the show that made its name by unexpectedly killing off characters.

"I had a sit-down with Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff], we did the Tony Soprano walk [letting an actor know they're being whacked.]. And they said, 'Look, you're gone, it's done'," he told Entertainment Weekly.

"And 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."

The actor added: "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."

However, as the next Game of Thrones book has yet to be published, fans still hold out hope that this is all a game of smoke and mirrors and the arrival of Lady Melisandre at Castle Black means that Jon could be brought back from death.

But fans will have to wait until next April to find out.

poll loading How will you deal with the loss of Jon Snow? 2000+ VOTES SO FAR WAIL HE'S NOT DEAD Who's going to feed the dog?

Game of Thrones fans have been left beside themselves with grief over the death of Jon Snow.

The bastard son of beheaded Ned Stark and former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch was brutally murdered by his own men in the season finale of the show's fifth series last night, and fans aren't happy.

While Jon may have caused the deaths of untold Sworn Men to save their enemies the Wildlings, his death being brought about by little Olly, who'd he'd taught to survive, came as quite the shock.

"Please don't kill Jon Snow. Please, I'm crying. Don't kill him. Please. I can't believe it," wrote one viewer.

Another added: "Jon Snow is honestly such a puppy. Watched it 2 hours ago and I'm still crying at his expression when everyone stabbed him."

"Jon Snow NO!!," tweeted another. "I'm crying. I need the week off from work. I can't function. Jon Snow. This can't be."

Thousands of fans joined in on social networks to share their grief, with a selection added at the bottom of this piece.