David Benioff, George R. R. Martin and D.B Weiss at Season 8 NYC Premiere. Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO.
On his latest Not a Blog post, George R. R. Martin speaks out about his feelings for the final Game of Thrones episode, as well as what projects are in store for him and the showrunners now that it’s all over! How much will his written work differ from the version we’ve now seen on screen? Let’s find out!
On his blog, titled An Ending, GRRM reminisces about his initial meeting with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss over a decade ago. He remarks on how quickly that time has gone by and how little idea he had at the start that the show would become one of the most popular television series of all time.
He takes the time to thank some of the people involved in what he terms, “a wild ride, to say the least,” including the cast and crew, David and Dan, the team at HBO, headed up by Richard Plepler, and the wonderful Bryan Cogman, referring to him once again as “the third head of the dragon.”
GRRM goes on to discuss what future projects lie ahead for him and the showrunners. This of course includes Star Wars for David and Dan, as well as what appears to be confirmation by GRRM of Bryan Cogman working on Amazon’s new Tolkien series! As well as finishing off the ASoIaF books, GRRM himself has eight(!) TV shows in development – five with HBO, two with Hulu, and one with the History Channel – numerous feature adaptations, and other new projects to keep him busy!
He also touches on what has been one of the most hotly contested topics of the final season: does the show have the same ending as the books? All he gives us is…“Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.”
Thanks for clearing that up George! Of course the books and the show are very different mediums, and GRRM does promise that in his novels we’ll find out what happens to book only characters and plot lines, as well as featuring “unicorns of a sort.” He finishes with his favourite reference to the number of children Scarlett O’Hara had (famously she has three in the novel Gone with the Wind and only one in the film adaptation) and suggests that once he’s written it, “Everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet.” Sage advice!
