Dear 'Game of Thrones' and 'Walking Dead,' Stop Lying to Us About Death Avoiding spoilers is one thing--flat-out lying to your audience with offscreen stunts is another. After the disservice done to Jon Snow and Glenn Rhee, we must figure out a better way

• Published in: The Daily Beast
• Main Author: Leon, Melissa
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC 03.05.2016
• Subjects: Interviews; Lying; Snow

Inside a lonely room in Castle Black, after the last non-believer filed out, the former Lord Commander opened his eyes and gasped for breath in the last seconds of Sunday night's Game of Thrones episode, "Home." Head creatives lying about a bold move on a show, then getting cast members (people whose paychecks partially depend on said creatives) to lie, then disseminating the lie to TV journalists who then publish the quotes for thousands to read--I mean, that is some dystopian, fucked-up shit! TV critic Sam Adams called TV's recent rash of death fake-outs an "epidemic," arguing that it's gotten so bad "that unless viewers actually see a character draw their last breath, they won't believe they're dead--and in the case of Jon Snow, even that's not enough."