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Could Jon Snow's Direwolf Ghost Return For 'Game Of Thrones' Season Eight?

Could Jon Snow's Direwolf Ghost Return For 'Game Of Thrones' Season Eight?

There's a reason why it's likely to happen

James Dawson

James Dawson

You probably have noticed that since he was revived from the dead we haven't seen many Game of Thrones scenes with Jon Snow and his direwolf Ghost. In fact, the only scene featuring any of the Stark wolves was Arya's brief reunion with Nymeria as she made her way back to Winterfell.

While you might be hoping there's some plot reason behind their being missing in action, the reality is that each scene in which they feature costs a lot of money to make, and therefore the producers have made the decision to cut them out due to budgetary constraints.

Credit: HBO

As GOT director Miguel Sapochnik has explained, Ghost didn't feature during the Battle of the Bastards episode in Season 6 because it was too pricey. He told Vanity Fair: "[Ghost] was in there in spades originally, but it's also an incredibly time-consuming and expensive character to bring to life. Ultimately, we had to choose between Wun-Wun [the giant] and the direwolf, so the dog bit the dust."

Similarly, Entertainment Weekly reporter James Hibberd said it's difficult to make the wolves appear realistic on-screen cheaply.

"One reason we haven't seen the direwolves more often is that the producers set a high bar for visual realism on the series and ultra-large wolves are difficult to render convincingly," he said.

"A naturalistic furry animal takes more time and resources to create using computer effects than a fantastical scaly dragon."

However, that could all change for the eighth and final season of the show as with an increased budget of $15 million (£11.15m) per episode - with many fans speculating that the increased budget will means more airtime for Ghost.

Some fan theories (included the one embedded below) have even speculated that Ghost is as integral to Jon's character arc as Drogon is to Daenerys', so he'll definitely play a more prominent part in the series as it reaches its finale.

The theory speculates that, unlike the rest of the litter, Jon's direwolf has a higher intelligence and magical abilities - this is evidenced by Ghost's red eyes, which are unique to the characters in the show that dabble in magic.

Featured Image Credit: HBO

Topics: Ghost, Game of Thrones