Warning: Season 5 finale spoilers are nigh!

You kind of have to feel bad for Kit Harington. Ever since Jon Snow was stabbed at the conclusion of Game of Thrones Season 5, he’s been forced to participate in this mummer’s farce that Jon Snow is dead-dead. Or, if you believe he is dead-dead, that Harington might be off the show (despite being seen all over Belfast where the show is currently filming. Plus, you know, the hair thing).

Neither is likely true, and thanks to an interview with a Belgian magazine, Humo, the latter presumption at least — that there won’t be any more Jon Snow — has definitely been quashed. Maybe he’s just ready for the lies to be over. #FreeKit!

According to Reddit user the_narc_died, Harington let a few things about Game of Thrones slip when promoting his upcoming film Testament of Youth:

When asked if he’d be back next year, Harington gave very vague and mysterious answer of course, but when he talked about what a great opportunity the show has been, yet a very demanding one as well, he said the following: (my own translation)

[…] I often felt frustrated as well. I had to pass on amazing parts because I was attached to Game of Thrones. So the show is like a double-egded sword to me: I owe a lot to it, but > at the same time it has almost completely drained me. Oh well, I try not to think about it too much. The important thing is that I now know exactly how long I am still under contract, and in the meantime – Interviewer: How many more seasons would that be? Nice try (laughs). I can’t talk about that. Let’s just say that Game of Thrones will remain a part of my life for a while, I’ll probably be in my thirties when it’s over. One thing’s for sure: the day I’m no longer onThrones is the day I’ll bury myself in movie projects (laughs).

Kit Harington turns 28 this december, which pretty much means he’ll be part of the show until it’s last season, now it’s as good as confirmed that it will run for 8 seasons. Obviously, I doubt this will come as a surprise to many. He’s already been spotted on the set, and we’ve been theorizing for years about the role Jon Snow has to play in the remainder of the story. But this seems to be the first time the actor basically admits he’ll be around until the end.

Indubitably!

So, it’s not like we know the how or why he’ll be back — Weirwood visions? Flashbacks? Jon Snow 1.0? Jon Snow 2.0: Azor Ahai Edition? — but this at least seems to confirm he’ll be around, regardless. Or he might really be dead-dead and just trolling the hell out of everyone. Personally, I think that the showrunners overplayed their hand with the dead-dead pronouncements, while basically forcing all of the actors to bid Harington adieu in interviews. Seriously, it’s fairly ridiculous.

Feel free to speculate below and give your prognostications for Jon Snow’s role in the future of Game of Thrones, or dive deep into that Reddit thread and read the theories there. Meanwhile, there’s still plenty of speculation to be had over when George R. R. Martin‘s next book installment, The Winds of Winter will publish, even though we’ve being told again recently that it will be out in 2016.