George R.R. Martin has confirmed that his final Game of Thrones book will be ‘quite different' to how the TV series ended.
As the novelist prepares to write the final chapters of The Winds Of Winter, Martin has revealed to fans that the epic fantasy series’ conclusion will stray away from the HBO show.
Martin wrote in a blog post: “What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series.
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“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.”
Martin teased that new characters would join the Song of Ice series while warning that characters that survived in the TV finale would not all make it to the end of his novel.
“Oh, and there will be new characters as well,” he wrote.
“No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.”
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He added: “One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of GAME OF THRONES will survive until the end of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, and not all of the characters who died on GAME OF THRONES will die in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE.”
He continued: “And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.”
The HBO finale, which aired in May 2019, was heavily panned by critics and fans of the show.
Many accused the finale of being inconsistent with previous seasons, while others were left underwhelmed by the story’s ending.
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The 73-year-old also pointed out that some might ‘hate’ the book regardless, resenting Martin as it's taken him a while to complete.
He added: “That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind).
“That’s all I can tell you right now. I need to get back to the garden. Tyrion is waiting for me.”
Topics: TV and Film, Books, Game of Thrones, HBO
Charisa Bossinakis