Game of Thrones season 7 was a whirlwind of character meetings and reunions, but one character wasn’t given his due: where, many fans asked, was Ghost, Jon Snow’s faithful direwolf? Sansa mentioned him briefly in “Eastwatch,” but he never actually turned up on screen.
That wasn’t always the case. When discussing his episode “Stormborn” on a season 7 Blu-ray commentary track, writer Bryan Cogman revealed that he wrote a scene featuring Ghost, but that it got cut. We were supposed to see Ghost when Jon emerged from the Winterfell crypts, right after he throttled Littlefiner but before he waved goodbye to Sansa and galloped out the gate.
So somewhere in there. Cogman provides the details:
"There was a bit here where Jon came out of the crypt, and Ghost came up to him and he petted him and said, “Take care of [Sansa], watch over her for me.” But I guess those direwolves are expensive. I guess it got cut. Oh, well. Ghost is there somewhere roaming around."
We actually haven’t seen Ghost since the beginning of season 6, when the direwolf was the first to see Jon Snow rise from the dead. It’s not that the show is opposed to using direwolves — literally right after Jon leaves, we get a lovely scene between Arya and Nymeria, her long lost direwolf — but as Cogman notes, they are pricey, and the production must have judged the Arya scene more important than the Jon one.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time a Ghost scene has been cut. He was also excised from a scene in the first episode of season 6 — they even filmed that one, and spliced the direwolf in before letting it go:
Does this explanation make Ghost’s absence any easier? Or would a few fewer seconds of Daenerys’ dragons have been acceptable? Discuss!
Next: Season 8 filming: New photos from the King’s Landing set show extensive fire damage
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels