Los Angeles - Game Of Thrones' Season 5 finale concluded on Sunday with a shock.

(Warning: This story contains a spoiler about the finale.)

One of the wildly popular fantasy series' principal characters, Jon Snow, was assassinated by his own men in the closing seconds of the episode. He was the commander of a military group known as the Night's Watch.

It appeared to end the story of the idealistic Snow, a fan favourite played by Kit Harington.

But the show is based on a series of novels by George R.R. Martin, who has not ruled out in the books the possibility of Snow being alive.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly that was published on Sunday, Harington said: "I've been told I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm not coming back next season."

He denied a report last year that said he was receiving a raise in his salary for Season 6.

"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.

"Quite honestly, I have never been told the future of things in this show, but this is the one time I have."

He said showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss sat him down to "do the Tony Soprano walk" - to let him know his character's fate.

"They said, 'Look, you're gone, it's done,'" Harington said.

The actor, who left his hair long for years for his character, has also since got a haircut, said Entertainment Weekly.