George R R Martin “Never Anticipated” ‘Game of Thrones’ Show Would Get Ahead of the Books

We do adore George R. R. Martin, don’t let our constant berating of his lack-of-“Winds of Winter” tell you otherwise. We refer to him as Grandpa George sometimes, because he really has taken on the mantle of the wise and (at times) curmudgeon keeper of the Game of Thrones tales.

He also apparently can be so idealistic that he didn’t think HBO’s Game of Thrones tv series would ever get ahead of his book writing.  No really, he said that in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“Obviously, I wished I finished these books sooner so the show hadn’t gotten ahead of me. I never anticipated that.”

Martin was speaking about the 8th and final season of the series, which will wrap up the end of the Game of Thrones main storylines (as far as the tv show goes). We know the show ending WILL differ from the planned-out “A Song of Ice And Fire” source material, but no one will comment on how, exactly.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss have promised not to reveal how the show’s ending will be different than the book’s. Benioff said:

“[The concern] used to be that the books would spoil the show for people — and luckily it did not for the most part. Now that the show is ahead of the books, it seems the show could ruin the books for people. So one thing we’ve talked to George about is that we’re not going to tell people what the differences are, so when those books come out people can experience them fresh.”

The other interesting takeaway from the EW interview is Benioff’s not-so-subtle mention of Martin discovering storylines while he writes, which makes it sound like maybe as we’ve all feared, Martin doesn’t know how to get from “A Dance With Dragons” to the ending of the book series.

Also, as it turns out, Martin hasn’t read the final season scripts.

“I haven’t read the [final-season] scripts and haven’t been able to visit the set because I’ve been working on Winds. I know some of the things. But there’s a lot of minor-character [arcs] they’ll be coming up with on their own. And, of course, they passed me several years ago. There may be important discrepancies.”

Good luck, Grandpa George. We can’t wait to read the conclusion of your epic saga.

HBO’s Game of Thrones returns for their 8th and final season on April 14th 2019.