As controversy grows over the final season of Game of Thrones,I think the person most worried about the reaction is George R.R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series, on which the show is based.
When A Game of Thrones, the first book in the series, was published in 1996, it was a huge hit. In part, because of the imaginative world Martin created - filled with different religions, races and ambitious characters – dragons, for goodness sake - but also because it was a rollicking tale that moved at good speed.
You put down one book, and want to start the next. Binge reading, if you will.
Which makes it perfect fodder for a television show, and that series began in 2011. Only problem was, Martin couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with the television show. So by the time series six hit our screens, the television show had overtaken the books.
The final two series have been based on a guideline given to the show’s creators by Martin, as he told Rolling Stone magazine “the major points of the ending will be things that I told the creators of the show five or six years ago.”
Yet, as off the end of April, even Martin still didn’t really know how the series was going to end.
Martin now has this really important information – a lot of fans really don’t like the way the story’s panned out.
So what does he do now, given he hasn’t finished writing the sixth or seventh books? He’s got options – so would he be tempted to alter the ending?
I mean wouldn’t you? Why write a book when everyone knows the ending?
Just under a million have signed a petition to get the final season remade – they’re that upset. I get it. Following a series for eight years is a real commitment. It may be a relationship that’s longer than many of us have yet to reach with our cars, homes, partners, pets.
So when you’re all worked up about an amazing last season, and it all comes crashing down I can understand the disappointment.
But, have a look at yourselves people; it’s a television show. A fantasy television series – it has dragons, for goodness sake. It’s also $15m an episode so no one’s running off for a reshoot any time soon.
So the TV series may be done, but books are still going. So is Mr Martin going to write new books on a story everyone knows, and many hated, or does he let the creative juices flow and come up with a whole other new ending.
Personally, I’d go with the market research, and start again.
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