Here's why we didn't see Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost, during 'Battle of the Bastards'

Here's one question Game of Thrones fans have been asking after watching "Battle of the Bastards": Where was Ghost?

You'll be happy to know that Jon Snow's majestic direwolf is perfectly fine -- but he could not attend the biggest battle in the show's history because of budget.

Hopefully this isn't a spoiler, but Ghost the Direwolf isn't played by a live animal. He's a CGI character. Sadly, that means that getting him into the show requires a lot of time, production work -- and money.

Via Giphy

"[Ghost] was in there in spades originally, but it's an incredibly time consuming and expensive character to bring to life," Miguel Sapochnik, the episode's director, told Business Insider. "Ultimately we had to choose between Wun-Wun and the direwolf, so the dog bit the dust." 

While Wun-Wun's sad end was moving, it's good to know that despite Ghost's absence, he is safe and sound.

Via Giphy

Ghost isn't the only CGI money pit on the show. Animated giants don't come cheap, either. 

"Anything with the giant is a challenge, because he's not there," Sapochnik said. "You have to shoot multiple layers for each shot, and get extras to react to something that doesn't exist, and then shoot the actual giant played by Ian Whyte months later on a green screen stage." 

Even without its CGI characters, the "Battle of the Bastards" was time-consuming and costly to produce. According to Entertainment Weekly, the battle scene alone took 25 days to film and required 600 crew members, 500 extras, 70 horses and 25 stuntpeople. 

Overall, the production cost of the episode came in somewhere between $11 million and $25 million.

That's a lot of cash, but we hope the direwolf allowance will be up and running again soon.

Not to worry, fans, as long as he's alive, Ghost will not be ghosting us for long.

Via Giphy

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