SPOILER ALERT:

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has admitted to giving away THE secret of season six.

After his character’s bloody end in season five, the actor dutifully repeated the official line in all media interviews: Jon Snow was dead and absolutely, definitely, positively not going to pull a Jesus and come back to life.

Harington had a good reason for keeping the secret. It was apparently written into his (presumably lucrative) contract. But in a recent interview with US late night host Jimmy Fallon, he revealed he slipped up in private more than once before the crucial episode showing Snow’s resurrection went to air.

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“This policeman pulls me over and he said, ‘There’s two ways we can do this: You can either follow me back to the police station and I book you in, or you can tell me whether you live on the next season’,” Harington said during the May 13 episode of The Tonight Show.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I’m alive next season’. And he says, ‘On your way, Lord Commander’.”

Yep, you heard right. Harington blabbed to save himself from a speeding ticket. So, somewhere in the USA, his native England or wherever in the world he happened to be hooning (he doesn’t say), a very well-informed officer of the law was probably irritating his colleagues with knowing smiles – or enraging them with spoilers.

Jon Snow was resurrected in the second episode of season six by Melisandre, an ancient witch who magically disguises herself as a young and beautiful woman. The revival was widely expected by fans of the show.

Harington’s indiscretions worsened. Right after being let into the secret of Jon Snow’s impending resurrection, he immediately told his family.

This was the first confession Fallon managed to squeeze from the actor when he started interrogating him on how he managed to keep the secret for so long. Because, of course, he must have kept it, right?

“I was good, I was good,” Harington replied.

“When David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], the writers, told me, they said, ‘You can’t tell anyone now. You really can’t … You can’t tell your mum, you can’t tell your dad, you can’t tell your brother, you can’t tell your friends. No one.”

So you complied, Fallon assumed.

“Oh, I told mum and dad straight away,” Harington replied, to audience laughter.

At this, Fallon thought he had plumbed the depths of the actor’s indiscretions. Not even close.

“Well, my girlfriend knew. A few people knew quite quickly,” he said, prompting Fallon to say his behaviour was “awful”.

“But they were all very trusted people,” the actor said to defend himself. His girlfriend happens to be Scottish actor Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte in Game of Thrones.

“No member of the public, no stranger … Well, actually, that’s not strictly true.”

At this point, Fallon was visibly disgusted.

“Okay, one policeman knew.”

Oh, Jon Snow, you really do nothing … about keeping a secret.

Harington’s behaviour is arguably in keeping with the peccadillos of his fan base, who are themselves disposed to a spot of rule breaking. The fantasy drama series remains the most illegally downloaded program in television history, and is heavily pirated in Australia.

Game of Thrones is based on the A Song of Fire and Ice series of novels by George RR Martin. The TV series produced by HBO is expected to last for at least eight seasons.

It is available (legally) in Australia exclusively on Foxtel.