The current cycle of preparing for Game of Thrones’ Season 6 return has fans scraping every corner for news of Jon Snow’s revival, ostensibly spoiling George R.R. Martin’s books, though we sometimes forget how HBO’s divergence from the novels can backfire. Now, Martin reveals that HBO already killed one character he’s plotted a key Winds of Winter twist for, leaving Game of Thrones in the lurch.

Martin spoke to IGN about the scope of his work in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and not solely that delays in publishing sixth novel The Winds of Winter allowed HBO’s adaptation to lapse his public work. At least several characters killed off in the HBO series remain in play for the books, one of which Martin has apparently circled back to include with a significant purpose:

Asked about a “twist” he’d been considering for one character in 2015, Martin confirmed moving forward on it after all, saying:

I have decided to do that, yes. Will you know it? I don’t know. It’s fairly obvious, because it’s something that involves a couple of characters, one of whom is dead on the show, but not dead in the books. So, the show can’t do this, unfortunately, because they’ve killed a character that I have not killed.

But that doesn’t narrow it down much, because at this point, there are like, fifteen character who are dead in the show who are still alive in the books.

We won’t get into too many spoilers for dead HBO Game of Thrones characters, but as Martin says, there are certainly options. Jon Snow wouldn’t really fit the bill, especially if HBO intends to bring back the character regardless, but who might he mean? Will the event in question be given to a different character on HBO, should it prove important?

In the meantime, Game of Thrones Season 6 will premiere on April 24, and you can watch trailers and photos below.

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