George RR Martin Says He Won't Change The Ending Of His Books Because Of How Much Fans Hated The Way Game Of Thrones Ended
EW- Game of Thrones fans obviously had a lot of strong feelings about the plot twists in the show’s final season — at least some of which were inspired by saga author George R.R. Martin. But Martin says none of the outspoken reactions, positive or negative, will change anything he has planned for his final two A Song of Ice and Fire novels (though the author admits there can be a certain degree of temptation to do so).
“The internet affects all this to a degree it was never affected before,” Martin tells EW when asked about fan reaction to the final season. “Like Jon Snow’s parentage. There were early hints about [who Snow’s parents were] in the books, but only one reader in 100 put it together. And before the internet that was fine — for 99 readers out of 100 when Jon Snow’s parentage gets revealed it would be, ‘Oh, that’s a great twist!’ But in the age of the internet, even if only one person in 100 figures it out then that one person posts it online and the other 99 people read it and go, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ Suddenly the twist you’re building towards is out there. And there is a temptation to then change it [in the upcoming books] — ‘Oh my god, it’s screwed up, I have to come up with something different.’ But that’s wrong. Because you’ve been planning for a certain ending and if you suddenly change direction just because somebody figured it out, or because they don’t like it, then it screws up the whole structure. So no, I don’t read the fan sites. I want to write the book I’ve always intended to write all along. And when it comes out they can like it or they can not like it.”
A little bit of breaking news in the entertainment industry that the supernerd who proudly wears suspenders and a little hat with a turtle on it in public doesn’t give a fuck what people think.
But even if he did, George RR Martin shouldn’t give a damn about the reactions that fans had about Seasons 7 or 8 because they were the two seasons that were past the books George wrote. The Thrones seasons that were so good, everyone from the writers to the actors to the extras were getting their private parts proverbially sucked for being potentially the greatest show ever, were the ones that George had actually written the books for. Then Benioff & Weiss took the sprawling universe they took years to create and connected it with the couple of endpoints Martin told them with the grace of a 2-year-old playing a maze game.
Most of the criticisms about the last season had nothing to do with the way the stories actually wrapped up. It was how they got there without any rhyme or reason outside of wanting to wrap it up ASAP. The Night King went from the leader of the most unstoppable force on the planet to killed because he had a worse set of blockers than Eli Manning over the last few years. Dany went from a beloved queen that loved freeing people from tyrants to the character responsible for the most innocent deaths of the entire series in the blink of an eye. And while any intellectual with a brain knew that Bran would serve a great purpose, the scene where he was named king was clumsier than watching Sam Tarly try to swing a blade.
So no, I’m not worried about George RR Martin feeling pressure to change how everything wraps up in the books because of how angry the fans were. Especially since the writing of the series finale was somehow good enough for the learned people like the people who run the Emmys.
I’m actually worried that he doesn’t feel enough pressure to finish the books and is going to die with what will likely be a very satisfying ending dying along with him because HE IS TAKING FOREVER TO WRITE THE FUCKING BOOKS. If anything, the way the show ended should make Martin happy since people will say “At least it was better than the way the show ended” no matter what. Just finish the books George so everyone can move past this and build up another show to unrealistic heights before trashing it during the final season.
P.S. No matter what anyone says about the finale, this visual deserves an Emmy.
I don’t care what the award is for or if you create a whole new category called Best Moment. But that was a whole lot of incredible in the middle of a bunch of bullshit, kinda like watching Barry Sanders play on some of those old Lions teams.