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Kit Harington Was Allegedly Spotted on the Set of 'Game of Thrones'

Maybe he called his friends on the show and asked if he could briefly crash some big battle scene in Northern Ireland, just to troll us? Probably not.

This was how we last saw him. Photo by Helen Sloan. Courtesy of HBO

Warning: spoiler alert.

After Jon Snow died, Kit Harington and other people who work on the show went on a worldwide tour to assure us that he, in the words of the coroner from The Wizard of Oz, "is most sincerely dead." Even President Obama got involved. No one would admit anything. The official word—Jon Snow is staying dead.

No one believed him (including us). Speculation ran throughout the web as Game of Thrones fans, especially those enamored of Kit Harington's hair, discussed all the possible ways that he might have survived the treacherous attack. He could have "warged" out to Ghost (put his consciousness inside his dire wolf's body), or get resurrected by the Fire Priestess. He could be Azor Ahai, or maybe just the most heroic zombie in Westeros. No one exactly knows, but we do believe that Jon Snow's fate is, and always has been, too intricately tied to the central plot of the books to let him stay dead.

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There's good evidence for that belief. Jon Snow is not only the most heroic character in a show otherwise devoid of heroes, he's got a mysterious backstory that is perfectly set up to deliver a shocking revelation (think: "Luke, I am your father")—at least to everyone who doesn't know what R+L=J stands for. The show and the books have been teasing his secret origins since the very beginning as a secret that Ned Stark took to his grave. While George R. R. Martin and the show creators Weiss and Benioff are perfectly willing to kill off major characters, it just seems like a waste to blow five years of foreshadowing without giving us the revelation (and then killing him off, no doubt). Furthermore, Weiss and Benioff famously won the right to make the show by answering Martin's pop quiz, "Who is Jon Snow's mother?" Why would it matter if Snow stays dead?

A book could keep a secret, but since Kit Harington wasn't going to vanish off the face of the Earth for the ten months between TV seasons, paparazzi and reporters have been searching for clues. First, there's the hair. In a Rolling Stone interview interview about what would happen when the show was done, Harington said, "I told my agent, 'No more swords, no more horses. You [don't want to] get stuck in things. And maybe I can cut my fucking hair." But his hair stayed long, taunting us with its luscious curls (for my part—I want Jon Snow, and everyone living in the frozen North in the worst winter in living memory, to please just put on a hat. I'm cold just thinking about it).

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Now—and here's the big spoiler of the day—Watchers on the Wall, a site dedicated to the show, has this news.

Kit Harington a.k.a. Jon Snow was also seen at the location, participating in shooting this week. Harington has been spotted in Belfast again recently, along with Iwan Rheon, so it's not too shocking Harington is filming Game of Thrones. Looks like Game of Thrones is planning another huge battle for the ever-important episode nine.

So we may officially be kept in doubt for a few episodes, but unless this is some kind of flashback scene, Snow's back. The big questions are how he returns, when he returns, and what are the consequences of his dance with death.

this is a photo of kit harrington and iwon rheon in belfast tonight. you're welcome. jon snow is indeed ALIVE pic.twitter.com/ulrj8hCKc3

— pádraig (@savedolphinss)September 9, 2015

Or it could be that Harington's just messing with us. Maybe he called his friends on the show and asked if he could briefly crash some big battle scene in Northern Ireland, just to troll us, before he goes for a pint at the local pub. Now that would be a plot twist I didn't see coming.

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