[BOOK SPOILERS] Would you watch the show if it overpasses the books?

[DragonsHungry]

This, absolutely. ADwD/AFfC has enough material to be split over 3 seasons I think, and it's likely to be the same with TWoW and ADoS. However even if only the above is true, it still gives GRRM a bit over 3 years to complete each of the two books.

The only other consideration is that things like locations, actors and the general organisation of producing a tv series as massive as this is that the producers will be planning some things over a year in advance - before they even start filiming those scenes. One scenario which can happen because GRRM is involved with the series is (particularly in the seasons adapted from ADoS) is that GRRM will give the screen writers a far more detailed series of plot points to write from. It may be that certain scenes are brought forward in a way that means we see them on tv first. But it might only happen with certain characters/plot lines. Suffice to say, I wouldn't be surprised if ADoS is launched in conjuction with the tv series that are based on that book... and yes, if I can see those first, then I'll watch them.

I agree with you about additional material. There will be an opportunity to contribute more ideas and character moments. There will be all kinds of neat things that aren't exactly in the books, but are cool because they give you more "insight" to a character.

I keep seeing people say they can pause or hold the series, there is absolutely no way that is going to happen.. As long as the ratings and money are there, GRRM isn't going to change his writing pace, nor is he under obligation to anyone to do so. I think there is more wishful thinking about the books getting ahead of the show.

HBO doesn't have to wait for the books to published. I am sure they would like the books to come out, but they won't count on it. GRRM doesn't seem bothered right now by that possibility so I won't be bothered either. GRRM is still going to write an episode a year and they can consult him on storylines.

Due to casting, actor contracts, etc. they are going to have to consolidate plotlines, its a TV show, you can't perfectly go page by page in the book. I can't see the AFFC or ADWD material really getting you more than 1.5 seasons, there is alot of travel and setup, which is not the best TV (nor cimena, cough cough, The Hobbit, too much was drawn out). I don't think they can perfectly adapt those books, there will need to be some consoildation and cutting of minor plotlines.

I can see what we would deem WoW stuff happening starting in season 6, maybe some story threads begin towards the end of season 5.

You can't let the show wander into the aimless "Heroes" territory or LOST Season 3, and D&D don't seem like the types to let that happen, they will keep the storyline focused, interesting, and moving along. TV is not the same medium as a book, you can't perfectly adapt long and complex storylines with tons of characters, there are real world business considerations and logistics that are accounted over.

I started out reading the books years ago, but I am a fan of the TV show, so if I get the end of the story on TV first, then so be it. I am going to enjoy watching.

[Tommens Cat]

I currently wait a year to watch each season as I don't get HBO and am just buying the blu-rays. I would absolutely not watch the show until I'd read the books. I would probably abandon visiting this site as well.

this is where i stand

i would not watch the show and let it spoil (at least for me) the sheer amount of details and time i put into the "real" characters and not the tv characters.

i had never heard of game of thrones before tv series (a sin i know) but after watching episode 1 i read all 5 books in like a month and then caught up with the tv series.

if the show comes out with ADoS before GRRM releases to us i would not watch hob, would not google game of thrones and def would not come on this site :)

[Lady of Dragonstone]

I would, because I feel like the intricacies of the plot in the books is far under-represented in the show that I would still be surprised at the book, although I'm sure the show will do well with the big reveals. Oh, and because I'm an addict!

[Moon-Pale Maiden]

I currently wait a year to watch each season as I don't get HBO and am just buying the blu-rays. I would absolutely not watch the show until I'd read the books. I would probably abandon visiting this site as well.

Sadly, me too :( And I love this site. And I'd be sorely tempted. But I just couldn't do it. There is something really special about watching the magic unfold on the pages and somehow I'd feel as thought I cheated in my loyalty to the books. So, I'd sequester myself until the books came out.

[DaveSumm]

You guys might wanna check out the recent interview with GRRM on Omnivoracious in which he states "I'm gonna keep writing these books and stay ahead of these guys before they catch up with me."

Nice and positive. :)

[Karelian]

I know this has been discussed a lot during the past couple of years, but is the 10 episodes per season restriction really set in stone? I can't imagine how they are going to adapt Feast and Dance into multiple 10-episode seasons or a single 10-episode season. A 15-episode season would be perfect imo, after axing and remixing some of the content of course. I could even see them including some stuff from the beginning of Winds into season 5 if they can do more than 10 episodes. My prediction for the length of the entire show is about 8 seasons, assuming that Martin stops at 7 books and the last book takes 2 seasons. Also, I'm pretty sure that the show will be over before the last book is published. I know that many people have said all this before, but what can you do.

[DaveSumm]

I know this has been discussed a lot during the past couple of years, but is the 10 episodes per season restriction really set in stone? I can't imagine how they are going to adapt Feast and Dance into multiple 10-episode seasons or a single 10-episode season. A 15-episode season would be perfect imo, after axing and remixing some of the content of course. I could even see them including some stuff from the beginning of Winds into season 5 if they can do more than 10 episodes. My prediction for the length of the entire show is about 8 seasons, assuming that Martin stops at 7 books and the last book takes 2 seasons. Also, I'm pretty sure that the show will be over before the last book is published. I know that many people have said all this before, but what can you do.

It's not so much a restriction, more that they basically work flat out all year to produce 10 episodes. So to do more in a season, they'd have to have year-and-a-half long schedules. I think HBO tried this before and ratings suffered so they probably won't.

My prediction is that Season 5 will end toward the end of Feast/halfway through Dance, and Season 6 will be the rest of Dance and the upcoming battles of Ice and Fire. I think that'll fit reasonably well into 20 episodes.

[TheEvilKing]

2013 - Season 3 (ASoS Part 1)

2014 - Season 4 (ASoS Part 2)

2015 - Season 5 (ADwD + AFfC Part 1) + Release of The Winds of Winter (early 2015)

2016 - Season 6 (ADwD + AFfC Part 2)

2017 - Season 7 (TWoW Part 1)

2018 - Season 8 (TWoW Part 2) + Release of A Dream of Spring (D&D would probably have it much earlier than we will)

2019 - Season 9 (ADoS Part 1)

2020 - Season 10 (ADoS Part 2)

This seems reasonable to me, except TWoW won't be out until at least 2016 (and that's being optimistic).

The show will definitely catch up before ADoS is released (if it lasts that long obviously). However I believe the show will be different enough after season 4 that the ending will also be very different to that of the books. I don't think Benioff & Weiss are dicks enough to spoil the unreleased books - they are fans of the books themselves, after all.

Another possible way to extend it is to make the Battle of Fire and Battle of Ice into TV movies. Meereen in particular looks like it's going to be a bigger battle than the Blackwater.

ETA: Another solution could be to skip ADWD/AFFC and have Dany head to Westeros after defeating Meereen, instead of staying to rule. This would kill two birds with one stone a) no need to film all the travelogue stories in ADWD/AFFC that wouldn't make good TV b.) it would confirm to readers that the TV show is its own beast and would free up the showrunners to go in new directions. It would also be easily done with a few storyline tweaks. Of course, I do not expect this idea to be popular here.

[kevin1989]

This seems reasonable to me, except TWoW won't be out until at least 2016 (and that's being optimistic).

It will be there before 2015, it is known. You should read interviews with GRRM, he stated that he will finished the books before the show takes over the books. He's working very hard on the books. The last thing we know where he was with the books was last summer, we don't know where he is right now with the story.

[Nick_Scryer]

Even though I don't think it will happen, I'm pretty sure I would watch if it overpassed the books, or at least up until the final season of the show. I see them as two different versions of the same epic story. I know that D&D were told the ending but it would undoubtedly be different to the final ending in the books.

[Cruella]

I would wait for the books and then watch the show later. But I don't see the great drama. I like discovering shows after they are done and devouring them fast.

[TheEvilKing]

It will be there before 2015, it is known. You should read interviews with GRRM, he stated that he will finished the books before the show takes over the books. He's working very hard on the books. The last thing we know where he was with the books was last summer, we don't know where he is right now with the story.

Oh sweet summer child. Such things have been said before.

[Vengeance]

Oh sweet summer child. Such things have been said before.

A Storm of Swords was published 18 months after ACoK and was 1000 pages long. He can write when he's motivated. The last two books were an epic clusterfuck that he's overcome now. 400 pages had been written as of October 2012, so a late 2014 date does not seem at all implausible.

With the number of times the showrunners have professed their commitment to telling GRRM's story and their love of the books I don't know why people can't just take that at face value rather than speculate wildly - unless they suddenly have a complete reversal in attitude they are not going to so brazenly bastardise a story that George will have been writing for decades in order to have it all wrapped up nicely for HBO - and nor is George or his publishers ever likely to let them. It is his property and he will finish it himself.

[EnergeticCrab]

Why has no one brought this up yet?

http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/03/will-game-of-thrones-overtake-novels.html?spref=tw

This leaves us with a situation that would look like this:

2013: Season 3 - A Storm of Swords Part 1

2014: Season 4 - A Storm of Swords Part 2/A Feast for Crows/A Dance with DragonsPart 1

2015: Season 5 - A Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons Part 2

Late 2015: Possible Winds of Winter release date.

2016: Season 6 - A Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons Part 3/The Winds of WinterPart 1

2017: Season 7 - The Winds of Winter Part 2

2018: Season 8 - The Winds of Winter Part 3/A Dream of Spring Part 1

2019: Season 9 - A Dream of Spring Part 2/longest realistic lifespan of the TV series

As you can see, this means that Martin would be required to publish A Dream of Springby spring 2019 at the latest, and to give the showrunners material from it in the summer of 2018.

Personally, I have no idea. I would probably watch the show, but feel terrible the whole time.

[Werthead]

Dan and Dave explicitly confirm that there be no hiatus or wait for the books. If GRRM hasn't gotten them out, then he hasn't gotten them out and they will keep going regardless.

Hopefully this drives a vengeful stake through the heart of the always-unrealistic, "But they can put the show on hold for 3 years!" argument.

A Storm of Swords was published 18 months after ACoK and was 1000 pages long. He can write when he's motivated. The last two books were an epic clusterfuck that he's overcome now. 400 pages had been written as of October 2012, so a late 2014 date does not seem at all implausible.

With the number of times the showrunners have professed their commitment to telling GRRM's story and their love of the books I don't know why people can't just take that at face value rather than speculate wildly - unless they suddenly have a complete reversal in attitude they are not going to so brazenly bastardise a story that George will have been writing for decades in order to have it all wrapped up nicely for HBO - and nor is George or his publishers ever likely to let them. It is his property and he will finish it himself.

A Storm of Swords was published 22 months after A Clash of Kings (October 1998 - August 2000). However, GRRM had many hundreds of pages of ASoS and entire storylines - such as Tyrion's - written for the book before ACoK came out. It's actually more accurate to say that AGoT, ACoK and ASoS were written as one very long mega-novel over a period of eight years and then broken into installments as the books got too long for the publisher's comfort. It's something of a miracle that the three books actually worked out as cohesive and as well as they did.

More to the point, those books were written when GRRM was younger, was less famous and had less calls on his time. Whilst I would expect and hope that TWoW took a shorter time period to write than AFFC and ADWD, it is certainly not a given at this time.

[Lord Varys]

They don't need the finished books to continue the story. They can talk to GRRM about it. So that's no problem. But my guess is that GRRM will publish whatever portions of TWoW he has written when the season depiction TWoW events is going to hit the screen (my guess is that the final season dealing with ADwD will include the outcomes of either Battle of Meereen or/and the Battle on the Ice). After all, he would not want that his readers first watch the stuff he has imagined before they read about it. Which in turn would enable the show runners to adapt more portions of TWoW for the next season.

Real problems would only arise if the show starts to adapt ADoS before GRRM has finished writing whatever events are supposed to take place in TWoW. Then everything would fall apart.

It is also quite likely that there will be more volumes than just TWoW and ADoS. In fact, I don't see how GRRM hopes to finish the story in just two volumes. ADwD expanded the scope of the whole story even more, and neither has Daenerys started to go to Westeros nor have the Others finally made their move. I expect at least another trilogy, even four volumes if TWoW should be published before GRRM reaches 1,500 pages.

[GeorgeIAF]

There is talk also for a prequel based on the Dunk and Egg stories

[BillBones]

Surprised to see that so many would watch before reading. I'd never be able to, even though it would be really tough. Especially due to the fact that all of a sudden my friends could threaten to spoil things for me, instead of the other way around, which has been the case the last couple of years, hehe.

[Bayard]

Well, there are many scenarios depending on the timing of the books. What if there are 8 or 9 books in total??? If the series is an alternate ending. Something that D&D write, with only a few ideas coming from GRRM, I would watch it. I always like to see a new theory about the ending, AAR, and so on :). If it's exactly the story from the books, no, I would try to refrain myself from watching them.

[The Unborn]

Yes, I would watch it. I watched season one before I read A Game of Thrones, and I don't think it diminished my enjoyment of the novel one bit.

Also I think at that point there would be many significant differences, so even if ultimately the results of the show and the books are roughly the same, they will still be very different experiences.

Same thing here.