Northern Inuit dogs were used to portray the direwolves in the first season of the massive HBO fantasy hit Game of Thrones before being replaced by fully CGI creatures in later seasons.

A closer look

Northern Inuit dogs were used to portray the direwolves in the first season of the massive HBO fantasy hit Game of Thrones before being replaced by fully CGI creatures in later seasons. Sophie Turner, the actress who played Sansa Stark, actually adopted Zunni, the dog that played her fictional pet Lady, after the character was unceremoniously killed off on the show. Fans spent years obsessing over complex political allegiances, dragons, and ice zombies, but the most universally satisfying arc of the entire franchise was a teenager getting to keep a really big, fluffy dog. In a universe famous for brutally murdering your favorite characters and delivering a completely disappointing finale, this off-screen canine adoption remains the only objectively good thing to come out of Westeros