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A recent episode of 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� included a big change from the source material fantasy series written by George R.R. Martin.聽

(Spoilers for the most recent episode of 鈥淭hrones鈥� follow鈥�)聽

In the April 26 episode of 鈥淭hrones,鈥� Sansa Stark, daughter of deceased Warden of the North Ned Stark and Catelyn Stark, arrived at Winterfell after seeming to agree to marry Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon). As book fans know, this development does not occur in the books. The plot line also intriguingly puts Sansa near Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), a young man with whom she grew up at Winterfell but who has since been tortured by Ramsay.聽

There have been changes between the plot of the books and the plot of the TV show almost since the beginning of the series, but this is a big one.

鈥淲e really wanted Sansa to play a major part this season,鈥� co-showrunner David Benioff told of the change. 鈥淚f we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that."聽

Is this only the beginning of big changes between the books and TV show? 聽In an interview with聽,聽鈥淭hrones鈥� writer and producer Bryan Cogman discussed further the process behind deciding what to keep from the books. 鈥淚t's a juggling act,鈥� Cogman said. 鈥淎nd then George reads the outline every year, and gives his notes and thoughts... We pick and choose what's from the books, and what we need to satisfy an arc within a given season, so if we want [character] Dany emotionally to start here and end there, we will find what's in the books at various points to achieve that. And that's why you've seen things that have been switched around鈥� You end up having the show universe and the book universe as a result. We've been doing that to a degree since season one.鈥�

As we鈥檝e reported before, the concern among fans for some time has been that the TV show 鈥淭hrones鈥� will get farther ahead than the plot of Martin鈥檚 books. Martin has published five books in the series and is reportedly planning two more, 鈥淭he Winds of Winter鈥� and 鈥淎 Dream of Spring.鈥� Martin recently announced he would not be attending some events so as to get more time to work on 鈥淲inter,鈥� but the book still doesn鈥檛 have a publication date, and the events of the show are getting closer to Martin鈥檚 last book, 鈥淎 Dance with Dragons,鈥� as each episode airs.聽

Benioff previously discussed the issue.

"Luckily, 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� he said, according to聽. 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."

It鈥檚 an unusual situation. In other recent high-profile book-to-visual medium adaptations, either all the books in the series have been published already or the author had a fairly regular schedule for releasing them. For the movies based on Suzanne Collins鈥� bestselling 鈥淗unger Games鈥� series, the final book, 鈥淢ockingjay,鈥� had been released years before the first movie came out in 2012.

For the long-running 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� series, four of the books in the series had been released when the first movie came out. The longest gap in the publication of the series occurred between the fourth and fifth books, but it was only three years in between 鈥淗arry Potter and the Goblet of Fire鈥� and 鈥淗arry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.鈥�

There was a six-year gap between the second-newest 鈥淭hrones鈥� book, 鈥淎 Feast for Crows,鈥� and the newest, 鈥淒ragons." It鈥檚 been almost four since 鈥淒ragons鈥� came out and, as we mentioned, there鈥檚 no publication date yet for "Winds." If the TV show "Thrones" is the first to reveal new plot developments rather than a book doing so, it would be an almost unprecedented joining of two mediums 鈥� book and TV 鈥� to tell a story, intertwining the two rather than having the book be first.

Creating the TV show of 鈥淭hrones鈥� means uncharted territory when it comes to adapting books for movies or TV. And yes, here be dragons.