George R.R. Martin warns about surprising deaths

During last night’s Writers Guild West Awards, A Song of Ice and Fire author, and creator of Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, made an appearance and had some very interesting things to say about character deaths on the show versus the books.

ShowBizz411.com got the chance to ask Martin a few questions, which ranged from what it was like to be a “rock star author” to how many seasons of Game of Thrones there will be…and of course, those surprising deaths.

See what George had to say, after the jump.

The most resounding quote from ShowBizz411’s article, is George R.R. Martin’s quotes about deaths on the show.

“People are going to die who don’t die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy. So everybody better be on their toes. David and D.B. are even bloodier than I am.”

I somehow have a hard time believing that Benioff and Weiss are bloodier than GRRM, but if the Bearded Bard says it, then it must be true, right? Martin was also asked about his rock star status:

“It has good and bad aspects to it frankly. As a writer, you start out you’re obscure at first. You publish short stories and maybe a few hundred people read them, if you’re lucky a few thousand. You dream of great success. Sometimes your dreams come true. You get great success. It has wonderful things about it, but also has some drawbacks. You have to deal with it. It is what it is.”

I wonder if the drawback is the throngs of fans desperately waiting for The Winds of Winter, and letting him know about their consternation through message boards and various social media platforms. Even Kit Harington (Jon Snow) came to his defense. George was then asked about how many more seasons of Game of Thrones there may be:

“ Not really certain yet. This is the fifth season, the sixth season HBO picked up last year. We will have a 7th, 8th or 9th, no one knows. They only renew one or two seasons at a time. After we do season 6, maybe we’ll get a renewal for 7th and 8th. That all depends, Television is a very changeable medium.”

The fact that Martin isn’t certain about how many seasons, past 6, that Game of Thrones will go through, is very interesting. In March of 2014, Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, told EW that 7 seasons was the plan for the stopping-point.

Martin expounded on the popularity of the show, and his plan to stop at seven books:

“Yeah, it’s the hottest show on TV now, but will it be the hottest show on TV two years from now? Hot shows come and go and television changes, and I’ve lived through that before. I certainly hope that we get to tell the entire story. Because whatever happens with the show I’m going to finish the books, it will be seven books. But each of these books are 1500 pages long and they each have enough material in them for several seasons. I have two more books, the one I’m writing right now, ‘The Winds Of Winter,’ and after that the last book, ‘The Dream of Spring,’ so those will be the two final books. But we’re talking 3000 pages of material. How many seasons that translates too? That’s up to D.B. And David.”

There you have it. George R.R. Martin has his plan, and knows exactly how much it’s going to take to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. As for Game of Thrones, he’s leaving that conclusion in the capable hands of Benioff and Weiss.

• Published on 02/15/2015 at 1:09 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT