It’s no secret that Game of Thrones has eased off on portraying the Stark direwolves of late. “Stormborn” gave us a glimpse of a full-grown Nymeria, but that was a rare treat, since even on a show with the resources of Game of Thrones, rendering convincing giant wolves is a challenge.

Now, “Stormborn” writer Bryan Cogman reveals that there was going to be another scene with a direwolf in the episode. Apparently, Jon’s faithful direwolf Ghost was going to show up, but the scene got cut:

FYI… We shot a Jon/Ghost scene. Didn't make it in. I tried! Thx for watching, everybody. #Stormborn — Bryan Cogman (@b_cogman) July 24, 2017

He doesn’t say why the scene was cut. For time? Because it didn’t work? Until we (hopefully) get an unfinished of it on the Blu-ray release, we can’t know. It’s a shame that Jon’s pet has taken on such a reduced role, though — the last time we saw him was in season 6’s “Home,” when he raised his head off the ground right before Jon was brought back to life.

This isn’t the first time a scene involving Jon’s furry friend has been cut. He appeared in a deleted scene with Dolorous Edd and Alliser Thorne in the season 6 premiere, for example. Watch a rough cut of that scene below:

According to director Miguel Sapochnik, there were originally plans for Ghost to be in “Battle of the Bastards,” as well, but they got scrapped. “[Ghost] was in [the Battle of the Bastards] in spades originally, but it’s also an incredibly time consuming and expensive character to bring to life,” he told Business Insider last year. “Ultimately, we had to choose between Wun-Wun and the direwolf, so the dog bit the dust.”

At least Ghost is still technically around. Lady, Grey Wind, Shaggydog and Summer are all dead, and Nymeria has decided to forge her own path. For all intents and purposes, Ghost is the only direwolf left. I don’t know if the fan base could take his death on top of everything else, so let’s hope that when and if he does reappear, it’s in the best of health.

h/t Insider

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