Westeros

A big splashy announcement of a recent advance by Colossal Biosciences, creators of the “wooly mouse”, with the revelation that they have essentially recreated the 10,000-years extinct dire wolf which once roamed North America. The first two are named Romulus and Remus, after the legendary founders of Rome who were nursed by a she-wolf, while their younger “sister” is named… Khaleesi.

But what really got our attention was the concurrent reporting from The Hollywood Reporter that not only explicitly links the wolves with the direwolves of Game of Thrones, but also reveals that none other than George R.R. Martin is an investor and adviser… and so, too, is Peter Jackson, who provided a certain prop for a photoshoot with Romulus and Remus that Game of Thrones fans may recognize…

And yes, it’s that Iron Throne, the one that sold at auction last year for a whopping $1.49 million. If I remember rightly, this means Jackson had bid number 7101, and he and another anonymous bidder (#7109) collectively spent over $10 million on props from the auction. Who knows PJ was such a fan? It’s well-known he has a massive collection of props from films, but I don’t think anyone would have guessed that he’d be willing to spend so much on props from a TV show.

In any case, some very cool science at work, and a great connection to GRRM. The THR articles notes that he’s also flown to the private preserve to see the two dire wolfs.

Perhaps someday there’ll be a Ghost among their number?