[BOOK SPOILERS] Watching the show if it overpasses the books [Part 2]

[six]

I know a lot of people will want to flay me for what I'm about to say. but...

If season 7 or 8 comes before ADOS is even half done (and therefore D&D won't have any source material to adapt) I wish GRRM takes a sabbatical year from the books just to help writing the show, not just 1 episode, but work alongside D&D to give us a satisfying ending for his story (which apparently will come first in TV than the books).

I mean, I will gladly wait one more year to read the book if that give us a good ending for this story

No I agree with this. It's obvious we won't get the books before the show finishes, all speculation is wishful thinking because twow is nowhere near finished and ados is a mirage atm. So I too would prefer for grrm to be heavily involved, as to get an ending that very closely resembles the books in tone. Unfortunately, I think this is wishful thinking, too.

That said, I can definitely see the Iron Islands story line getting cut down a lot more than the Dornish thread.

Me too. Maybe Dorne won't have as much space as it does in the books, but they're already making a big deal with Oberyn's introduction, so it will definitely be a big part.

Since they probably won't have the final two books to adapt in detail, they'll be working off outlines at best (I assume). In that case, I can't see them doing more than a season per book after the AFFC/ADWD adaptation.

I expect it to go like this:

Season 5 - AFFC/ADWD

Season 6 - TWOW

Season 7 - ADOS

Yes, there! That's what I was trying to say. With no published books to adapt from, they'll be free to just take the main points and make it as long/short as it needs to be to fit in the upcoming seasons.

[Hath4]

I think it's pretty plausible that wow will be finished in time for season 6 and 7. Martin has about a year left to finish the book and I have a feeling he will get it done. He is aware of the pressure. As for the final book I don't think it will be ready by season 8. So the final season will be problematic but that is still a ways down the road.

[Le Cygne]

I expect it to go like this:

Season 5 - AFFC/ADWD

Season 6 - TWOW

Season 7 - ADOS

I think this will be the way it is, too. The last season will be without a book to guide them. Another thing to consider, the ending is likely to be very sad (yes, I know he said bittersweet, but I have no faith in the sweet part)...

[Ignorant Bog Woman]

I think it's pretty plausible that wow will be finished in time for season 6 and 7. Martin has about a year left to finish the book and I have a feeling he will get it done. He is aware of the pressure. As for the final book I don't think it will be ready by season 8. So the final season will be problematic but that is still a ways down the road.

I don't want to get my hopes up. I'd be surprised if TWOW came out in 2015 based on GRRM's publisher's recent comment and the fact that he was only 25% done last April (?), and that's already having written much material that was dropped from ADWD. I'm expecting summer or fall 2016 at best, and season six would be out by then.

[Hath4]

I have faith, let's all hope for the best . Martin knows he has to finish the books hopefully he speeds up.

[Colonel Green]

Martin knows he has to finish the books hopefully he speeds up.

That would have been obvious for years, and yet there hasn't been any evidence for him speeding up.

[The hairy bear]

Martin has been enduring terrible huge pressure from editors and fans for more than a decade at this point. Rest assured that he writes as fast as he can (provided that art doesn't work lineally: x hours of work do not equal to y book pages).

If anything, the "pressure" makes him go slower. He attends to more conventions, he receives much more mails, he is asked to do more interviews, he has to care about multiple side projects, he has to write a yearly script,...

[Jussi]

Update from Martin:

'I am hopeful that I can not let them catch up with me. And it's my hope that long before they catch up with me I'll have published The Winds Of Winter which'll give me another couple years.

'It might be tight on the last book, A Dream Of Spring, as they juggernaut forward.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2578484/Game-Emilia-Clarke-Peter-Dinklage-join-Game-Of-Thrones-stars-Vanity-Fair-cover-countdown-begins-season-four.html

[Werthead]

GRRM has sold an awful lot of books to be dismissing readers as a fraction of the fanbase.

That's not what he's doing. The problem is that it is out of his hands. When he negotiated the deal back in 2006/07, AFFC had only just come out and he was still thinking that ADWD would come 12-18 months later, then the last two books at 3-year intervals. That seemed perfectly realistic, back when the wait for AFFC appeared to be a crazy outlier.

I think if GRRM knew what would happen afterwards and the delays involved, he may have changed his minds on selling the rights. Or maybe not. He also knows that opportunities like that don't come along every day, and not agreeing to the deal when someone with profile (as Benioff definitely did have) was backing it might mean the deal not happening at all.

Something interesting in all this is that Robert Jordan sold the Wheel of Time TV rights to NBC in 2000, when it was abundantly clear that the series wouldn't be completed for many years. If NBC had actually proceeded with the project, they'd likely have finished years ahead of the books and we'd have a precedent for this situation.

[Thats_So_Craven]

Maybe GRRM and HBO are working together to keep the story as underwraps as possible. For example wouldn't it be amazing if GRRM has Winds ready to go right now and he is waiting to release it right up until the show is caught up to create maximum frenzy around the whole world of ASOIAF...IT'S A CONSPIRACY :commie:

[Hagen of Tronje]

And wouldn't it be amazing if pigs could fly?

[Le Cygne]

That's not what he's doing.

You took my comment out of context, I was answering someone else who dismissed book readers as a fraction of the fanbase, not GRRM.

As for staying faitful to the books? who cares aside from the book nerds who make up a fraction of the GoT fanbase. The show is going to overtake the books, D&D will do what they think is best, even GRRM has been saying for the past year that the show's ending might be different than his.

There are a few of these threads going on, but here they say 7 seasons:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/03/11/game-of-thrones-7-seasons/

[oierem]

There seems to be a disparity about the ideal number of seasons:

-If you look at the story, the big overaching storylines (dragons, white walkers, jon and dany,the fall of the lannisters, the return of the starks...) seven seasons seems enough. They can't keep delaying the events that were hinted in the first season.

-but if you look at the books, it seems you need more than seven seasons to portray them accurately: the problem is that,looking at the books, they don't seem to be heading to a conclusion right now. It seems impossible that the story can conclude itself in just two more books, there are so many storylines that are nowhere near the endgame.

The show is taking the option of telling their own neatly condensed storyline.

About the show's ending being different from the books, I think there's only one scenario that could happen: if Martin is truly going for a non-conventional ending. I bet anything book Bran will not end his storyline becoming a tree (unless that tree is hugely important for the rest of the story), and I bet anything that show Dany and show Jon will meet at the end (either to "fight or fuck").

However, I doubt George will do something so terribly unconventional (and narratively stupid): he likes to kill main characters, but only if they're not really the main characters. Ned was Obi-Wan (althought Martin deluded as into thinking that he was the hero of the story), and Robb and Cat were distractions.

[WiDMNDBAMMD]

Update from Martin:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2578484/Game-Emilia-Clarke-Peter-Dinklage-join-Game-Of-Thrones-stars-Vanity-Fair-cover-countdown-begins-season-four.html

If the show is projecting seven or eight seasons it means that in one year they will need to read Winds of Winter to write the scripts for season 6 which is what tWoW will cover.

For us readers we need it to be released in less than two years. Which is hopefully very likely.

Now that is all good and dandy except Winds isn't the final book and given that it takes at least two years or more to write the next book that means that in two years from now they will need to read A Dream of Spring to write the scripts for season 7. For us readers we need the book to be released three years from right now.

Unless Winds of Winter comes out this year, I'd highly doubt for a Dream of Spring to be released three years from right now.

Which means the show will pass the books, GRRM might not be able to admit it until the episode with Winds or Spring material airs but it will happen unless the show is cancelled.

[Moseh Khayim]

A lot of questions concerning Dorne and the Iron Islands material will be answered when season 4 (nears it's) end(s) and casting for season 5 begins. From there we'll be able to make out what D&D are planning to do with those factions. As much as I'm excited for season 4, the build up to season 5 is going to be far more exciting (possibly resulting in a decent let down though). Simply because there are far more uncertainties.

[Werthead]

Based on the new statements from HBO, Weiss and Benioff I think it is clear that D&D asked for eight seasons and were told seven. Reading the statements carefully, eight is not completely ruled out, which makes me think they might just pull a Sopranos and do a double-length final season, or a season-and-a-half, but even that is asking for a lot because of the production turn-around. But yeah, I think we can proceed now on the basis that the show will almost certainly last for seven seasons and that's it.

In which case, ADoS does not make it out before the books unless GRRM pulls off the biggest writing turn-around in fantasy history, of the sort only achieved before by Stephen King (which may not entirely be a heartening comparison).

[oierem]

Based on the new statements from HBO, Weiss and Benioff I think it is clear that D&D asked for eight seasons and were told seven.

Why is that so clear? It is quite possible (seven is the maximun without having to renegotiate all the contracts) but what D&D say now is that they always wanted 7 (which may not be entirely true, but still, you're assuming a bit too much I think)

[Hagen of Tronje]

Nothing is clear, it's all just speculation. It seems likely though.

[Werthead]

Because D&D used to say 8 seasons (or 80 episodes) whenever this question came up. Actually, at one point I think they even said "80 or 90 episodes," so even if they considered 9 seasons unlikely, at one point they were still wishfully thinking for it. They then spent the next several seasons saying 80 episodes/8 seasons. 7 didn't seem to be seriously on the table until last year when Frank Doelger said 7, and even that it was phrased so it could mean that the show would reach 7 seasons, not necessarily end with 7. These latest statements appear to be definitive that HBO wants to finish on 7 (though an extra-long final season could still be possible). The fact they made a statement about it specifically to EW, especially after the Vanity Fair interview which was probably done a couple of weeks ago, suggests that this is a final decision.

I also have to say that I don't read HBO's statement as saying that 8 is even remotely on the cards at all, merely that the HBO president is saying their longest shows have gone 7 or 8 seasons, so 7 is about right, especially when it's their live-action dramas that have only reached 7 and only their (relatively) cheap comedies that have made it to 8 or more.

[oierem]

Because D&D used to say 8 seasons (or 80 episodes) whenever this question came up. Actually, at one point I think they even said "80 or 90 episodes," so even if they considered 9 seasons unlikely, at one point they were still wishfully thinking for it. They then spent the next several seasons saying 80 episodes/8 seasons.

Youy may very well be right, but I don't believe they ever said 90 episodes (or 9 seasons), and as far as I know, they only said "80 hours" in one or two occasions as a rather off-hand remark.