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The TV show Game of Thrones is approaching it's 5th series and is rumoured to be adapted from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, these are the 4th and 5th books of the Song of Ice and Fire Saga. As it stands there are seven books:

  • A Game of Thrones
  • A Clash of Kings
  • A Storm of Swords - Steel and Snow
  • A Storm of Swords - Blood and Gold
  • A Feast for Crows
  • A Dance with Dragons - Dreams and Dust
  • A Dance with Dragons - After the Feast

In many TV adaptations (such as the Sookie Stackhouse novels) when the TV series has caught up the program writers have taken the TV series away from the canon material. Has there been any official word yet on how Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire intends to continue beyond this point?

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  • 3
    Similar question?
    – Walt
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 15:58
  • @Walt very similar - not sure, do you think it's a dup? If so I'll delete...
    – Liath
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 15:59
  • 1
    I think it's about the same issue, mostly. Let's see what others think
    – Walt
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 16:01
  • 3
    I think the questions are different but actually the answers will probably answer both...
    – Liath
    Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 16:04
  • 5
    Answer from the future: the writers will fail to even come close to GRRM's level of writing and will deliver one of the most disappointing finales in TV history...
    – JonathanReez
    Commented May 20, 2019 at 20:50

3 Answers 3

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From io9.com/

Not to worry though, in the event that they do catch up, the show's creators are prepared. Benioff reveals, "Last year we went out to Santa Fe for a week to sit down with him [Martin] and just talk through where things are going, because we don't know if we are going to catch up and where exactly that would be. If you know the ending, then you can lay the groundwork for it. And so we want to know how everything ends. We want to be able to set things up. So we just sat down with him and literally went through every character."

But this doesn't mean that Martin is giving up quite yet, and is hopeful that he will be the first one to tell his story. "I can give them the broad strokes of what I intend to write, but the details aren't there yet. I'm hopeful that I can not let them catch up with me."

So its clear that Martin doesn't want TV series to tell his story first but series runner also doesn't want to hold this story too. So the clear answer is to wait and watch what happens.

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They'll likely end up different from the final outcomes of the books yet to be published.

The showrunners have said they have no plans to pad things out to allow Martin time to catch up with his books, as they feel it will ruin the momentum of the show and bore audiences. They have "broad outlines" of where Martin currently intends for the various stories to end up, and while they would prefer the series to remain true to all of the books, should that not be possible they'll complete the TV show based on what they currently know, and the books will end however Martin decides to finish them.

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In my opinion...

I suspect that the majority of the final books, or at least the next book is already completed. What I think will happen is the TV series will catch up to the books and pause. Then the next book will be released while the cliffhanger is still being talked about so everyone will buy the next book. Then the TV adaption will come out. Repeat this for the last book.

I know it sounds a little cynical but I fully believe the marketing department have got their hands on this.

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    "Repeat this for the last book" -- note that on past form Martin could easily take five years to write the last book, requiring a 4 year hiatus if the show (in line with its own past form) did the second-to-last book in one season. Presumably this is why (as the other answers indicate), the TV show says it won't wait. Martin can write a book in a year or he can fall behind :-)
    – Steve Jessop
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 9:48
  • Hmmm... Since watching the latest episodes in series 5 and reading the 'differences between show and book' series on vox.com I've now changed my mind. It's becoming apparent that the show is going in a slightly different direction from the books so we're going to end up with two different stories altogether...
    – Pat Dobson
    Commented Jun 6, 2015 at 9:18

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