Game of Thrones is over, but George RR Martin still has two books to go in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the end. the hit HBO show had to go on the author’s planned outlines for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, famously concluding with King Bran Stark. But now Game of Thrones insider James Hibberd, who has off-the-record information on the remainder of A Song of Ice and Fire, has teased just how different Martin’s plans for his book ending is going to be.
Entertainment Weekly’s Hibberd, who recently wrote the official making of Game of Thrones in Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, made the reveal to Spanish ASOIAF fan website Los Siete Reinos.
The outlet asked why Martin doesn’t comment at all in his book about the last two seasons of Game of Thrones.
He said: “I got the impression it was more about Martin focusing on finishing his overdue books than wanting to disengage from the show per se.
“But as [co-showrunner] Weiss points out, it was also tough for Martin to have these two different universes in his mind that were increasingly diverging.”
READ MORE: Game of Thrones: REAL reason ASOIAF’s Lady Stoneheart cut revealed
Hibberd continued: “Many don’t realise that even if Martin had finished his books, the show would still have had an extremely different final couple seasons than the books.
“[This is] due to the number of new characters and storylines that have already been introduced that the producers felt could not fit within the confines of a sprawling TV show which already had dozens of series regulars.
“For all we know (and I certainly do not), somebody like Lady Stoneheart or Arianne Martell could end up on the Iron Throne in A Dream of Spring – or at least play highly pivotal roles – which wouldn’t have been possible in a show that they were not in.”
The insider’s point is that neither Stoneheart nor Martell feature in Game of Thrones, but have prominent roles in A Song of Ice and Fire.
While in 2019, the author told ET how he’d have liked to have seen Lady Stoneheart in Game of Thrones.
The 72-year-old said: “Lady Stoneheart. Certainly, in the book I’m writing now that’s an important thread. But as you say, there’s so much there.”
“Even with a novel of ordinary size when you adapt it for television or film, it usually involves cutting and simplifying.
“And my books are not books of ordinary length. I mean even A Game of Thrones, which is the smallest of them, is like four regular novels.”
Martin added: “So, there was a lot to do. If we’d included everything in the books, we’d still be on season 1; would have been an eight-year-long season 1.
Last year, the author shared on his blog how he is hopeful that The Winds of Winter will be published in 2021.
But with a decade and counting, who knows how long A Dream of Spring will take him to write. Well, with Game of Thrones out the way hopefully not as long.
To read James Hibberd’s full interview in English click here or in Spanish click here.
