GAME of Thrones actor Brenock O’Connor has revealed he and his family received online death threats after his character Olly stabbed Jon Snow in last season’s dramatic finale.

With the Season 6 of the HBO fantasy drama airing tonight, the teenage actor, who lives in Worthing, said the online onslaught since the shocking Season 5 scene was broadcast last June has not stopped.

His character was propelled into the spotlight when Snow, the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, played by heart-throb Kit Harington, faced a mutiny by his own men and was felled in a mass stabbing.

It was Olly, who never forgave Snow for consorting with the wildlings who killed his parents, who delivered the final blow.

Brenock, who turned 16 earlier this month, said: “The fallout on Twitter and other social media was not nice and the barrage has not stopped since the end of the last season, mainly because since the season finished people have been watching it on boxsets.

“If you get people from Spain and Portugal and all over the world saying they are going to kill your family, you just can’t take it to heart or you would not cope.

“My family just thinks it is people who wanted to say something, and because of social media, you can say it to people on other side of the world.

“It's laughable how people think the show is realistic enough for them to send messages like this to someone who is not the character. I find it quite funny.

“I'm not Olly and I did not decide to stab Jon Snow!”

Brenock, who is in his second GCSE year at Chatsmore Catholic High School in Goring and attends the Theatre Workshop Stage School in Brighton, has not responded to any of the threatening messages on social media, saying: “It has no effect on me. You can either let it get you down or not think about it.”

“It was such an incredible thing to have that reaction. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Hatred for Olly, who first appeared in Season 4, has even prompted a page on the entertainment news website Reddit, with numerous threads calling for Olly to die.

Meanwhile, Brenock’s Twitter profile reads ‘Just a guy who reads lines off a page, that’s all’.

Brenock, who also appeared in the recent BBC series Dickensian, added: “I’m not disturbed by people thinking I'm Olly. It’s a compliment to the show that people believe that.

“I don’t want to shake off My Game of Thrones character. It is one of the reasons I have got other roles – it’s one of the reasons I have got other roles.

“Every day I'm thankful I got the part.”

Season 6 of Game of Thrones begins on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on April 25.