According to a new book, George R.R. Martin lobbied HBO to make 10 seasons of Game of Thrones and 100 total episodes, but it didn’t work out.
In the book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers” by writer James Andrew Miller, it’s revealed that Martin apparently pushed hard for additional seasons. Martin’s agent, Paul Haas, told Miller about Martin’s apparent plans for Game of Thrones.
“George would fly to New York to have lunch with [former HBO CEO Richard Plepler], to beg him to do ten seasons of ten episodes because there was enough material for it and to tell him it would be a more satisfying and more entertaining experience,” Haas said, as reported by Insider.
In the end, Game of Thrones ran for eight seasons and 73 episodes. Martin previously told Variety that he had ideas for Game of Thrones that could have brought it up to 13 seasons.
In the book, Martin himself said he hoped Game of Thrones would have run for 10 years, because that would have given the writers time to wrap it up properly. Martin is currently writing The Winds of Winter, and he hopes to finish it soon so “people can argue about which ending they like better.”
Haas said in the book that showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff were “tired, rightfully so,” and sought to move on and pursue other projects. HBO wanted additional seasons, Haas said, but it didn’t work out that way.
“George loves Dan and Dave, but after season five, he did start to worry about the path they were going because George knows where the story goes. He started saying, ‘You’re not following my template,'” Haas said.
Although Game of Thrones has ended, a spinoff prequel series, House of the Dragon, is coming to HBO in 2022.
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