'Game of Thrones' Director Reveals Battle With 50 Direwolves Was Supposed to Happen in Season 8

While the final season of Game of Thrones was deeply polarizing among fans, it did bring a number of climactic moments to conclude the series, from the ultimate destruction of the White Walkers to the annihilation of King’s Landing. As we get further from the finale, however, more information emerges about what could have been in the season--and most recently, a Game of Thrones director revealed that there was supposed to be a battle with 50 direwolves in the season.

The revelation comes from Miguel Sapochnik, a series veteran and the director of the climactic episode “The Long Night.” According to Forbes, Sapochnik said in an interview with the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast that “There were many things that happened, that people would have been so happy to have happen...Attack of direwolves and crazy stuff. At some point you’re like, '50 direwolves attacking an undead dragon does not a good movie make.'"

It’s unclear whether Sapochnik literally meant that there would have been 50 direwolves battling the Night King’s dragon or this was a hyperbole--but nonetheless, his point stands. “The Long Night” was already an action-packed episode with a number of moving parts, and the inclusion of such a battle might have felt superfluous.

Given the episode’s notoriously dark lighting, it’s hard to say whether or not it would’ve been a visually compelling battle, either. For his part, Sapochnik blamed the obscurity of the episode on viewers’ TV settings, according to Forbes.

As for us, we’re not sure how a direwolf-on-dragon battle would’ve played out on screen--part of us says that it would’ve been incredible, while another part of us agrees with Sapochnik and figures that it wouldn’t have gone over very well. Following the series finale, we’ll continue contemplating the Game of Thrones that could’ve been.