Much hay has been made on the ol’ Internet farm of Jon Snow’s death at the end of Game of Thrones season 5, and the questions surrounding that somewhat momentous event. Is Jon Snow really dead? If he is, will he stay dead, or somehow come back to life? Book readers started asking the questions first, introducing show watchers to the deep world of Jon Snow resurrection theories, and the character’s status is far and away the biggest mystery about the new season. Or, well, it would be, if HBO could keep a secret. But it can’t. At the end of Game of Thrones season 5, Jon Snow was splattered all over the snow of Castle Black. But nowadays, Jon Snow is splattered all over the marketing for Game of Thrones season 6.

HBO Isn’t Hiding The Jon Snow Question

Jon Snow posters haven’t popped up in the New York City subway just yet, but HBO has rolled out the first round of trailers and images for the next season of Game of Thrones, and a surprisingly large portion of them do feature the late, not-that-great Jon Snow. Hmm. Seems a little suspicious, if the character has been written out of the show on account of total deadness. We didn’t see Ned Stark on posters for Game of Thrones season 2, or Rob Stark hawking season 4, or Stannis’s hopes and dreams for season 3, now did we?

It’s very suspicious that HBO is putting a dead man on the poster for the next season. It’s one of the first tacit acknowledgements that the question of Jon Snow’s life or death is not a mere hobbyhorse for the fandom; it’s actually critical to the plot. HBO is validating the entire industry of Jon Snow death speculation; by putting Kit Harington on the poster and throughout the marketing, HBO is saying that the Jon Snow question will be a key storyline in the new season.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean Jon Snow will come back to life (although he definitely will!). It just means that his death and possible return will play a major role in the next season of Game of Thrones… in a way that other deaths haven’t. Will Jon Snow warg into Ghost? Will Melisandre bring him back to life in his old body, in a new body? Will he thusly be released from his Night’s Watch vows? How will the truth of his heritage be revealed? There are many, many Jon Snow questions coming up in the next season—far too many for a dead man—and HBO wants you to know it’s on the case.