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On Monday, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin came to the defense of HBO’s David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Despite the outcry over the show’s finale, the 70-year-old author explained that television and books are simply different mediums. He also noted that the final two books are still in the works.
Of course, he did not give any sort of time frame for their release – he simply said he’s still writing them.
“It has been a wild ride, to say the least,” he said of the HBO series, thanking everyone who worked on it.
But what about that ending?
Fans have been up in arms, with over 1.25 million even signing a petition seeking a do-over for the entire last season.
It’s important to remember that the showrunners were out of source material. Without Martin’s final two books, they simply had to go their own way. And, of course, they also had a limited amount of time in which to wrap things up.
“I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget,” said the author. “They had six hours for this final season. I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done… and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them.”
“How will it all end? I hear people asking,” said Martin. “The same ending as the show? Different?”
His response? “Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.”
Granted, that may not be the answer fans want to hear. However, it implies that there’s really no telling what to expect.
“There are characters who never made it onto the screen at all,” he said, “and others who died in the show but still live in the books…”
Plus, the books, he said, will have unicorns – “of a sort,” anyway.
“Book or show, which will be the “real” ending? It’s a silly question,” Martin posts. “How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have?”
Concluding his post, he suggested, “How about this? I’ll write it. You read it. Then everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet.”
