Game of Thrones at Comic-Con 2015: Panel of cast members revealed but key faces are missing

Author George RR Martin, the showrunners and Kit Harington are not going

Kit Harington attended last year's Game of Thrones Comic Con panel but is not down to appear this year (Getty Images)

The Game of Thrones cast members being sent to Comic-Con in San Diego have been revealed by HBO and, sadly, Jon Snow is not among them.

An exciting batch of attendees have been confirmed for the panel on Friday 10 July in Hall H at 2.30pm local time, with late night chat show host Seth Meyers moderating.

Executive producer Carolyn Strauss and episode director David Nutter will be joined by Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Hannah Murray (Gilly) and Conleth Hill (Varys).

There a couple of very notable absentees, however. Key cast members Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) will not be there, and neither will showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss and author George RR Martin.

Martin is skipping the fan event to concentrate on finishing The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire novel series on which Game of Thrones is based.

Interestingly (and arguably bizarrely) there are still many fans who refuse to accept that Kit Harington's beloved Jon Snow is really dead and gone. The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch was stabbed to death by his own men in the dramatic season five finale but speculation is rife that perhaps he either did not die or will be resurrected next year.

Harington and Thrones bosses have all insisted that Jon Snow has joined the long list of killed-off characters and his non-appearance at Comic-Con seems to confirm this. Unless he pops up as a surprise like Jason Momoa did after season one that is.

The cast of The Hunger Games are also attending Comic-Con next month, with proceedings kicking off on 9 July and running until 12 July.

Star Wars will also be there with The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams heading up their panel, also on 10 July.