George R.R. Martin Addresses Game of Thrones Season 8 Finale

George R.R. Martin is breaking his silence on the Game of Thrones series finale, and although he didn’t technically address the disappointed fan reactions to the finale, he gave a vague, typical-Martin answer for whether or not the books would be ending on a similar note to the show. Martin discussed his long-awaited conclusion to the written version of the series, and addressed the burning question on everybody’s mind.

“How will it all end? I hear people asking,” he wrote post saying goodbye to the HBO show. “The same ending as the show? Different? Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.”

He points out that having so many characters who either weren’t introduced or died in the show will make for major differences between the final books and the HBO series: “if nothing else, the readers will learn what happened to Jeyne Poole, Lady Stoneheart, Penny and her pig, Skahaz Shavepate, Arianne Martell, Darkstar, Victarion Greyjoy, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Aegon VI, and a myriad of other characters both great and small that viewers of the show never had the chance to meet”.

In another nod toward the differences between the books and show, he mentions that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss also had a completely different platform to work with when shooting the show, comparing the six hours the final season provided viewers to the 3,000 pages of manuscript Martin has for the final books.

“I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget,” he wrote. “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.”

Martin has mentioned in the past that the showrunners would have needed another five or more seasons to fully encompass what he has planned for the final books in A Song of Ice and Fire, although he noted that the endings will be similar.

In a previous interview with 60 Minutes, Martin claimed that the HBO series’ ending isn’t too far off from what he has planned for the end of the book series. The show’s ending is very close, he said, thanks to “several days of story conferences” that took place at Martin’s house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “I don’t think Dan and Dave’s ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we did have,” he said.

He also gave fans an update on The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the next two volumes in his A Song of Ice and Fire book series.

“And I’m writing,” he wrote on his blog post. “Winter is coming, I told you, long ago… and so it is. THE WINDS OF WINTER is very late, I know, I know, but it will be done. I won’t say when, I’ve tried that before, only to burn you all and jinx myself… but I will finish it, and then will come A DREAM OF SPRING.”

He concludes his blog post by pointing out that we will find out whether or not the show ending was the ‘real’ ending to the story in the books or not: “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.”

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