'Game of Thrones': Will the show officially go beyond the books?
For big 鈥�Game of Thrones鈥� moments like the Red Wedding, some book fans have waited gleefully for those watching the TV show to be surprised by the events. But now the books' readers may be learning of plotlines from the TV show before they ever have the chance to see them in print.
Fans of the books have long wondered whether the HBO show based on George R.R. Martin鈥檚 鈥�A Song of Ice and Fire鈥� series would eventually go beyond the stories that the books have covered. Martin is reportedly currently working on the next book in the series, 鈥淭he Winds of Winter,鈥� but neither that book nor the next in the series has a release date.
The TV show 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� keeps making new seasons, however, and as we previously reported, one character, that of Bran Stark, has already been taken out of the upcoming episodes. "The fact is, even though we鈥檙e making changes to the books and adapting as necessary, we鈥檙e trying to keep the various storylines the same as the books and trying to keep them roughly [chronologically] parallel," co-showrunner David Benioff told . "And last year we caught up to the end of Bran鈥檚 storyline [in George R.R. Martin鈥檚 most recent A Song of Ice and Fire novel, 'A Dance with Dragons']. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he鈥檚 way ahead of where the other characters are."
Now the 鈥淭hrones鈥� showrunners have spoken a bit more on the matter.
鈥淟uckily, we鈥檝e been talking about this with George for a long time, ever since we saw this could happen, and we know where things are heading,鈥� co-showrunner David Benioff said in response to a question about the show going beyond the books, according to . 鈥淎nd so we鈥檒l eventually, basically, meet up at pretty much the same place where George is going; there might be a few deviations along the route, but we鈥檙e heading towards the same destination. I kind of wish that there were some things we didn鈥檛 have to spoil, but we鈥檙e kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The show must go on鈥� and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to do.鈥�
This of course may change 鈥� Martin recently wrote online that he will not be attending upcoming events such as this year鈥檚 Comic-Con in order to devote more time to working on 鈥淭he Winds of Winter.鈥� So perhaps we鈥檒l see 鈥淲inds鈥� sooner than we thought.
