John Bradley Talks Samwell Tarly's 'Game of Thrones' Fate: 'I Didn't Think I Was Gonna Survive Either'

Fans were expecting to lose some of their favorite characters going into Game of Thrones' Battle of Winterfell. After "The Long Night" aired, however, the body count seemed a little lower than most were expecting. Appearing on Ellen, John Bradley spoke about his character Samwell Tarly's fate in the episode, and why he was also surprised about the outcome.

*Season 8 Episode 3 spoilers below*

"I don’t think you should have survived, do you?" DeGeneres asked Bradley. "I don’t know how you survived that, there were people dying all around you and somehow you survived the entire thing."

"Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna survive either," Bradley replied with a laugh.

Immediately after the episode aired, fans seemed to agree about being surprised about Sam's survival.

"Because you’re always kind of looking at the scripts for the new episode with one eye open," Bradley continued. "You’re so nervous. And people say, ‘Oh, Sam can’t die,’ and ‘Sam’s too important’ or ‘Sam’s too beloved.’ And you just think, ‘God, don’t you watch this show? Have you never seen this show before?’ Important and beloved doesn’t matter. Nobody is sacred and nobody is safe in Game of Thrones."

As for whether Samwell Tarly making it to the end of the show, Bradley said that he's not completely sure on how the show ends. "I thought I knew how it was going to end, and we definitely shot an ending, I can tell you that," he added.

"But I read an interview with our showrunners not so long ago when they said, 'the actors think they know how it's going to end.' I don’t know what I know is true," he continued. "I may ultimately know, but I’m not going to know that I know until I know that I know." 

Check out his interview on Ellen above.