George R.R. Martin Says ‘Game of Thrones’ Fan Outrage Will Not Change His Book Ending
George R.R. Martin isn’t letting fan outrage over the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” change his long-in-the-works plans for his literary franchise. While the HBO series ended its eight-season run in May, Martin still has two “Game of Thrones” books left to finish: “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring.” Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Martin said the extreme backlash over the HBO series’ ending won’t affect his books despite some of the storyline being the same.
“The internet affects all this to a degree it was never affected before,” Martin said. “Like Jon Snow’s parentage. There were early hints about [who Snow’s parents were] in the books, but only one reader in 100 put it together. And before the internet that was fine — for 99 readers out of 100 when Jon Snow’s parentage gets revealed it would be, ‘Oh, that’s a great twist!’ But in the age of the internet, even if only one person in 100 figures it out then that one person posts it online and the other 99 people read it and go, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ Suddenly the twist you’re building towards is out there.”
Martin continued, “And there is a temptation to then change it [in the upcoming books] — ‘Oh my god, it’s screwed up, I have to come up with something different.’ But that’s wrong. Because you’ve been planning for a certain ending and if you suddenly change direction just because somebody figured it out, or because they don’t like it, then it screws up the whole structure. So no, I don’t read the fan sites. I want to write the book I’ve always intended to write all along. And when it comes out they can like it or they can not like it.”
In a post published on his blog after the “Thrones” series finale aired, Martin assured fans that not everything that went down on the HBO series would be similar to what he’s planning for his unreleased next two “Thrones” novels. “How will it all end? I hear people asking,” the author wrote. “The same ending as the show? Different? Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget.”
Martin reiterated this stance to Entertainment Weekly, saying, “Yes, I told [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] a number of things years ago. And some of them they did do. But at the same time, it’s different. I have very fixed ideas in my head as I’m writing ‘The Winds of Winter’ and beyond that in terms of where things are going. It’s like two alternate realities existing side by side. I have to double down and do my version of it which is what I’ve been doing.”
“Thrones” fans have been waiting for years for Martin to release the next chapter. The author offered up no release plans for “The Winds of Winter” beyond a simple, “I’m writing the book. It will be done when it’s done.”