We last saw the good boy Ghost in the beginning of Season Six, when the direwolf was loyally sleeping by Jon Snow's dead body. That was more than three years and two seasons of Game of Thrones ago. In the Season Eight premiere, among long-awaited reunions between, Jon and Sansa, Jon and Bran, Jon and literally everyone—one was most notably missing: Ghost.

Yes, Jon Snow rode a dragon, a moment that fans had been waiting decades for, but there was no Ghost running at his heels, following him around Winterfell. Has Jon replaced his vicious, fluffy pet with a vicious, scaly pet?

He'd better fucking not. Look at this very good boy:

Ghost sleeps besides Jon Snow’s dead body in Season Six Episode Two of Game of Thrones. HBO

Throughout most of this series, it's been understood that the Direwolves, though beloved, were too costly and too difficult to include in the show because of CGI costs and handling actual wolves. That's why throughout the last few seasons, Snow didn't let Ghost participate in the Battle of the Bastards for the direwolf's own safety (or at least that's what's assumed on the show). Since then, Ghost has supposedly been hanging out at Winterfell, guarding Sansa while Jon Snow is off hooking up with his aunt on sexy boats. The only mention of Ghost in Season Seven was in Episode Five, when Sansa complained that she had to "sit and wait for him like Ghost" when he was off trying to save the world.

It's an interesting choice by the showrunners to cut Ghost out of the show, seeing as the Direwolves are to Starks as dragons are to Targaryens. Plus, given this is the biggest TV show in the world, it certainly has the budget to spend on including these key creatures in Season Eight.

But, the good news is, Ghost will return as more than just a mention in Season 8.

“Oh, you’ll see him again. He has a fair amount of screen time in Season 8,” VFX supervisor Joe Bauer told the Huffington Post last year. "Ghost does show up, and he does some ... he’s very present and does some pretty cool things in Season Eight."

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So, why were the Direwolves—who play an important symbolic role in the books and show—absent from the later seasons of Game of Thrones?

Bauer said it's because it's not so easy working with actual wolves, understandably.

“The direwolves are tough because you don’t want to get them wrong, so we end up always shooting real wolves and doing a scaling trick with them, but the real wolves only behave in certain ways,” Bauer said.

There actually was a scene filmed for Season Seven that explained what happened to Ghost, but Bauer said it was ultimately cut. Which makes sense considering all the other glaring plot holes in Season Seven.

So, Ghost should be back in Season Eight, and hopefully not just to die during the Battle of Winterfell.

Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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