Alberta wolf that plays Ghost on Game of Thrones still alive despite rumours

Game of Thrones fans were duped this week after the brain behind the popular franchise which went from novels to HBOtweeted that the real life Ghost died.

George R.R. Martinwent on to say the wolf lived at the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, which is located inIowa.

But as many proud Albertans know, the actual wolf that plays Jon Snow's direwolf in the popular television series lives in this province and is trained just south of Red Deer.

Arctic wolf Quiglyistrained by Andrew Simpson, the owner and operator of Instinct Animals For Film.

Martin later took to Twitter to clarify his mistake, saying the Ghost he was referring to was a rescue thatwas in a pack named afterGame of Thrones characters.

But it seems many fans arealready in mourning as the rumour persisted online Thursday.

It comes as fans gear up for Season 7 this July. Game of Thrones was also ahot topic in the Calgaryarea earlier this year afterMaisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, was seen around the cityand Banff as she reportedly filmed scenes for this season.

It waswidely rumoured that she was here to film scenes with the wolves from Instinct Animals For Film after the Alberta company shared a photo to Instagramof two of its wolves, saying they were "ready to work."

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The shorter, seven-episode season is scheduled to begin on HBO July 16. The eighth and final season is currently scheduled to air in 2018.

Meanwhile, HBO and author George R. R. Martin, whoseA Song of Ice and Firenovels formed the basis of the show,have been working on ideas formultiple spin-off seriesto pursue once Game of Thronesfinishes for good.

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