It should be welcome news for fans who disliked the TV series’ divisive conclusion.
George R.R Martin has provided fans with an interesting update on the next novel in his series of books that inspired the hit series Game of Thrones.
The author is currently working on the long-awaited The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series that began with 1996’s A Game of Thrones.
Comparing himself as a writer to a gardener, Martin wrote on his website: “I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but I will say this…
“I have been at work in my winter garden. Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me… old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels.
“What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series.
“Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.”
The TV series Game of Thrones finished its run in 2019 after taking its story beyond the source material and concluding with an incredibly divisive ending.
Going into more detail about the potential differences between his upcoming novel and the show, Martin described such changes as “inevitable”.
“The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa,” the author added.
“I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair. They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show.
“I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs, but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling.
“Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine.
“Quaithe still has a part to play. So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long. This is hard, guys).”
Martin also said there will new characters in The Winds of Winter, before adding as well:
“Not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice and Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice and Fire.
“Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening.
“And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.”
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