As predicted, the Battle of Winterfell was pretty darn savage, with <a href="http://vt.co/entertainment/film-tv/heres-everyone-who-died-during-the-battle-of-winterfell-on-game-of-thrones/">character after character meeting their doom.</a> But any Game of Thrones fan with a firm grip on things will point out that it could have been so much worse. Amazingly, no major character who has a chance to sit on the Iron Throne was taken, with the producers being unusually kind (don't get used to it though). One person who, undoubtedly, should never have survived is Samwell Tarly. In fact, in a world where an ancient race of formerly-human ice creatures are out for your blood and you have no fighting skills to speak of, the self-described coward should have been a goner a long time ago. Were you screaming at the screen when Sam somehow survived? You're not the only one. Watch John Bradley confess his character should have died here: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/siGiufcB-YXhMkIor.mp4||siGiufcB]] Thankfully though, the actor who plays Sam is fully open to admitting this, with John Bradley confessing he shouldn't still be on the show. When Ellen Degeneres said the thing we were all thinking on her talk show, the 30-year-old actor agreed, also opening up about the nightmare of never knowing if you're in the next episode. "Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna survive either," he told the talk show host. "Because you're always kind of looking at the scripts for the new episode with one eye open. You're so nervous." He continued: "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." Watch the preview for Game of Thrones season eight, episode four: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/YUV5ZhUk-Q0L14jDU.mp4||YUV5ZhUk]] After the pair discussed Sam's unlikely lease of life, things got emotional, with John stating a fan had told him he had "changed his life". He said: "I was in London a few years ago - probably after season three - and a guy came up to me and said 'I just want to say that because of your character, and your character's development and the bravery that your character has discovered within himself, I found the courage within myself to ask out the girl I'd been in love with my entire life. "[He said] 'I'd never told her, I was worried about rejection and I asked her' and then she said she'd felt that same way about him. And then they were together!" The Thrones star went onto say that people could discuss viewing figures all they liked, but stories like that made him realise what an impact the show had had on lives around the world. With stories like that, maybe it's okay that Sam lived to fight (cower) another day.

'Game of Thrones' star admits their character shouldn't have survived the Battle of Winterfell

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