Jon's resurrection came after months of misdirection by HBO and the showrunners following the character's death in the fifth season finale
Mother's Mercy (2015), claiming the character was indisputably dead. Even
Kit Harington himself stated, "I'm dead. I'm not coming back next season." Fans who did not settle for this explanation quickly pointed out that Harington was spotted in Belfast several times while the show was being filmed in Ireland, and that he kept his hair long all the time (he had famously said that he would get a haircut as soon as he was done on the show). Also, a series of action figures was released of characters who had died, and Jon Snow was not included. Harington later explained this away as that he would only appear in the sixth season as Jon's corpse. All of his filming for the sixth season was done in secret, with cast and crew having to sign non-disclosure agreements, the use of the name "Jon Snow" being forbidden, and the character referred to as "LC" (Lord Commander) in all production documents. Jon was only shown in the sixth season trailers as a corpse, though the first promotional image released for the sixth season was of of Jon with blood running from his shadowed eyes. After the airing of this episode, Harington told Entertainment Weekly, "I'd like to say sorry for lying to everyone," as well as expressing his appreciation for the fans' love for his character.
