Any word on what happens if Game of Thrones(show) catches up to the books?(no spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Zero spoilers here for either the show or the books, please. I don’t think that spoilers would be required to answer this.

Have the show runners decided what to do if they finish filming all the written books in the series before Martin finishes the series himself? Since Martin writes one episode per year, is he willing to let the show get ahead of his own written books? Or have the show runners just decided that they will craft their own ending if Martin does not put out the last two books in time(which he obviously won’t).

Has any word come out on what their plan is? Write their own or…just stop?

2

Since odds are Martin will never finish the books…

I think that they’ll burn that bridge when they come to it. No official word is out, although I’m sure people are starting to think about it.

3

I believe Martin has given HBO a summary of what is supposed to happen in the last few books, in case the show gets there before he does.

4

I’m pretty sure the plan is to do two season per book from now on, so it’s certainly possible that the next book will be out in time. The last one, not so much, unless they decided to start stretching out to 3 seasons per book.

5

Those poor child actors will be playing char’s in their teens while they’re collecting social security if they wait for George.

6

HBO shows in the past have gone into multiple year hiatus for various reasons, i imagine that’s what might happen.

7

They could also pull a “Spartacus” and go with some prequels from the short stories.

8

Well, if Book 3 is divided in 2 seasons and Books 4 and 5 (which overlap in time somewhat) get combined and divided into 3 season, you have 5 years of show. Book 6 should be done by then (that’s 2017, but with GRRM, you never know).

Book 6 may be split into 2 seasons & then Martin will likely have to rush to finish Book 7 (maybe they do a timed release thing - release the book on the day the 10th season begins… or the 11th season [& the series] ends, either way).

9

I was reading an interview with one of the HBO producers, and he confirmed that they have the (and this is a paraphrase here) “bare bones structure of the story, and basic character arcs” for the remainder of the entire storyline, inclusive of unwritten books. That was part of their original deal before they started production at all, because the books were taking so long to come out. I can’t say that I blame them in the slightest for taking precautions.

That said, I am currently unable to find that interview, although I’m pretty sure it would have been linked off from Moviefone or Huffpost.

I have also heard, many many years back, that Martin is more than a bit possessive of his work, and that he has stated that if he kicks it before the series is finished, he’d prefer that it stay unfinished rather than have another author finish it for him. That said, I have no idea if that is a correct statement (I’ve only heard it attributed to him) but then I don’t stalk that particular author. I also don’t know if he has taken the necessary legal steps to prevent that from happening (without which fan uproar may convince surviving family to disregard his wishes), but I wouldn’t put it past him to do so if he 1) did feel that way, and 2) was actually serious about it.

10

He’s got 3-4 seasons minimum to get (supposedly) two books out. He could have as many as 5 seasons depending how they split it up.

After slogging through books four and five, I wouldn’t mind if the show finished the series. I don’t actively wish Martin dead, but should he die, there’s an upshot. I can live without knowing what sort of stew Daenerys eats or how fresh the rushes are.

11

You guys seriously think HBO is going to stick with this series that long? They are going to pull a Rome or a Deadwood or a Carnival and shitcan this thing in the middle of a expositional monologe.

I do love Game of Thrones but HBO has me a little gunshy.

12

Deadwood was Milch’s fault. Rome was too expensive for the ratings. Carnival had those bizarre Kathy Lee Gifford commercials.

HBO is a business, and Game of Thrones is doing very well.

13

Rome was about twice as expensive as GoT, and was developed under a two year contract in conjunction with the BBC which simply could not continue to fork it’s share of the costs.