In 2019, HBO aired the final season of their massively successful series Game of Thrones to a torn reception from fans with many disappointed at decisions made to conclude its story. The series was based on A Song of Ice and Fire, a fantasy series written by author George R. R. Martin. However, following season five, the showrunners had to write the story themselves with some input from Martin as they entered uncharted territory the books hadn’t yet reached.
Since the show reached its completion Martin hadn’t given a lot away on what his thoughts were to how showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss continued the narrative from his books. Thanks to the new book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, we now have some insight.
Within the book by author James Andrew Miller, a representative for Martin, shared some thoughts on how HBO’s Game of Thrones went after season five.
George loves Dan and Dave, but after season 5 he did start to worry about the path they were [going down] because George knows where the story goes. He started saying, ‘You’re not following my template’. The first 5 seasons stuck to George’s roadmap. Then they went off George’s roadmap.
Via Winter is Coming
The representative continued explaining that Martin hasn’t yet revealed to anyone who will claim the throne at the end of his book series which does contract some of what was previously said by showrunners who claim Bran Stark was always planned to take the throne.
It wasn’t all negative from Martin within Miller’s new book. Martin was very impressed with how Emilia Clark took on the “difficult role” as Daenerys Targaryen during the duration of the series.
Right now there is still no timeline for when Winds of Winter, the next book in Martin’s series and A Dream of Spring, the concluding story will be released.