Let me be clear: I do not regret the time I spent watching Game of Thrones, or the time I spent analyzing, enjoying and reading theories about those characters. I enjoyed all of it, up until the end of the series, which sucked ass. The end of the series was so bad, it made me happy that I never invested in George RR Martin’s books. I also swore off the spinoff TV shows within the GoT/Westeros universe. As such, I’m not watching House of the Dragon, even though I hear that it’s good (and I also hear that it has sh-t the bed). Well, HBO has a new series based on Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I won’t be watching, but god bless. To promote the latest series, Martin gave a lengthy interview to the Hollywood Reporter. As you might have guessed, he is no closer to finishing The Winds of Winter or the final book in the Ice and Fire series, A Dream of Spring. Martin is 77 years old, not in the best of health and he absolutely refuses to just FINISH THE BOOKS. Some highlights from this THR piece:
One of his big worried during GoT’s run: Martin’s…worry was one he’d had since 2011, when Thrones premiered and his last Ice and Fire novel, A Dance With Dragons, was published. He still needed to write two more books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, to finish his saga, and the clock was ticking. The HBO show’s storylines were about to surpass the narrative in his books. “I have to finish the next book,” Martin fretted. “The actual writing [is getting] harder. I’m rewriting. I’m struggling. Maybe I’m overoptimistic about how quickly I can write these things. I’m trying to cut back on anything that I can to clear my decks and get this done …”
He’s not dying: “I never thought I’d live to be 77. I’m old, so I have some old-people stuff. My lower back hurts sometimes. I don’t like to stand around. But I feel OK. Maybe you should make that your headline: ‘George R.R. Martin Is Not Dying.’”
He’s happy with the new show: “The show is meant to be a very different type,” says Martin, who serves as co-creator and exec producer. “It turned out very well, and I’m very happy with season one. The casting was a home run. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is terrific and seems to have the same priorities I do — he’s trying to do something that’s very true to the characters. This doesn’t have any dragons or big battles. It has a field and a lot of tents and some horses.”
He also needs to write more Dunk & Egg stories: “The big issue is that I have only written three novellas, and I have a lot more stories about Dunk and Egg in my f–king head. I’ve got to get them down on paper. I began writing two at various points in the past year. One is set in Winterfell and one set in the Riverlands …”
His issues with making GoT sequels: Martin long has resisted sequels to Thrones because the ending of his Ice and Fire books is not going to align with the show and he wants to avoid further canonizing Thrones‘ controversial ending — even though he hasn’t written his own yet. “[The book’s ending is] going to be significantly different. Some characters who are alive in my book are going to be dead in the show, and vice versa.”
His books are his babies: Martin has made something else consistently clear: He believes book adaptations — not just his own — should be as faithful as possible. Martin is childless and has said he considers his characters to be his children. If another writer wants to make a major change to one of his brood — or remove one from a story altogether — he wants to know why, and the reason should make sense.
Martin was deeply hurt when a fan suggested he might die soon: The WorldCon panel was taking audience questions when somebody asked Martin if he would let another writer finish The Winds of Winter because “you’re not going to be around for much longer.” The audience booed. Martin felt like he’d been slapped. When he looked online to see the reaction, he was dismayed to find some fans saying he deserved it. “They say, ‘He lied to us, he is going to die soon, look how old he is,’ ” Martin says. Even now, months later, the author looks rattled. “I really didn’t need that sh-t,” he says. “Nobody needs that sh-t.”
The end of Ice and Fire. It becomes clear that the details of his story’s conclusion, like so much of the saga, remains uncertain. “I was going to kill more people,” he muses. “Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending. I don’t see a happy ending for Tyrion. His whole arc has been tragic from the first. I was going to have Sansa die, but she’s been so appealing in the show, maybe I’ll let her live …I don’t know. I think I’ll stay home. I have to write more Dunk and Egg. There’s supposed to be another Fire and Blood book, too. I do think if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish The Winds of Winter pretty soon. It’s been made clear to me that Winds is the priority, but … I don’t know. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for that.” He sighs. “I’m so far behind on everything.”
Granted, if I was 77 and rich, I would procrastinate and do f–k all as well. But wow, he’s really screwing over his fans. I realize this is a tricky situation for everyone involved, especially HBO’s executives and show runners. My solution? Hire someone – probably a woman – trustworthy, patient and creative to sit with Martin and squeeze out the details for everything he “plans” to write. Take copious notes, help Martin come up with outlines, work out the general structure of all of these stories, and maybe even draw up some storyboards with Martin’s input at every level. The best case scenario is that he lives long enough to write everything and you’ve just sent someone there to hold his hand and help him figure it all out. But it would also be a failsafe in case his health declines suddenly and HBO is left holding the proverbial bag. As for the last two books of the Ice and Fire series… my idea of a helper/creative/manager would work for that too, although I find it hard to believe that Martin’s publishers and editors haven’t gotten involved. Does his publisher have a plan in place for what happens if Martin never finishes the books?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of THR.
