Here’s Why Jon Snow’s Direwolf ‘Ghost’ Was Missing During Sunday’s Epic ‘Battle Of The Bastards’ On ‘Game Of Thrones’


Not that you necessarily noticed with all the carnage and bloodshed that went on during Sunday’s Game of Thrones, but Jon Snow’s direwolf, Ghost, was missing from what’s going down as one of the best hours of television ever broadcast. Potential reasons as to why include, but are not limited to:

-Gotta save the budget for the battle, not a CGI dog
-Enough other shit was going on that the director/writers figured no one would notice
-A giant battle is no place for a direwolf

Apparently the third reason is correct, as Liam Cunningham, the actor who plays Davos Seaworth on Thrones, divulged to Tech Insider that Ghost probably would’ve been slaughtered quickly had he been present:

When we lamented about the absence of Ghost in “The Battle of the Bastards,” Cunningham assured us that wouldn’t have ended well for the direwolf. “Yeah that would have been cool, [but] obviously a big battle like that is no place for a direwolf,” he said. “They’re not gonna last very long – I mean look at what happened to Wun Wun, the last of the giants.”

True – but didn’t Robb Stark ride into battle alongside his direwolf, who managed just fine with being in the thick of combat until the Red Wedding? Director Miguel Sapochnik, on the other hand, gave a more practical reason for his absence:

“[Ghost] was in there in spades originally, but it’s also an incredibly time consuming and expensive character to bring to life,” Sapochnik told Business Insider on Monday. “Ultimately we had to choose between Wun-Wun and the direwolf, so the dog bit the dust.”(via)

Ahh, budget constraints…that sounds more like it. Not that I’m complaining though, as I’d choose having the insane blood-soaked brawl that we got treated to on Sunday over a CGI wolf any day.

[H/T Tech Insider]