It has emerged that George RR Martin began to worry about the HBO adaptation of his novels after the fifth season of Game of Thrones aired.
An excerpt from the newly published book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers by James Andrew Miller, as shared by Winter is Coming, reveals that in 2015 Martin was not happy with the show’s direction.
According to Independent, a
quote from the author’s representative, Paul Haas, details how Martin began to “worry about the path they were [going down]” as early as season five.
Haas said: “George loves Dan [Weiss] and Dave [Benioff], but after season five he did start to worry about the path they were [going down] because George knows where the story goes.
“He started saying, ‘You’re not following my template.’ The first five seasons stuck to George’s roadmap. Then they went off George’s roadmap.”
Season five aired in 2015 and featured storylines including Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) beginning her internship at the House of Black and White, as well as Daenerys Targaryen (Clarke) meeting Tyrion (Dinklage) and banishing Jorah (Iain Glen).
Haas also insisted that Martin has “not told anybody” who wins the Iron Throne, despite previous claims from Benioff and Weiss that the HBO show’s ending – in which Bran Stark becomes Ruler of the Six Kingdoms – came from Martin himself.
The hugely popular series was an adaptation of Martin’s fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, the first of which was published in 1996.
Game of Thrones ran across eight seasons from 2011 to 2019. It starred Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner.
