George R.R. Martin Says the Ending of Game of Thrones Won't Be the Same as His Books

It didn’t take very long for Game of Thrones to diverge from the narrative of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series upon which the HBO show is based. The acclaimed author has been working on the next book, The Winds of Winter, since 2011, without a release date in sight. And while showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have had to stray from Martin’s vision a bit due to the lack of finished material, they’ve known the author’s planned ending to the series since day one. But it looks like Martin will be making a few tweaks to the final titles in his book series, as he doesn’t want everything to be revealed in the TV show.

"I’ve been so slow with these books," Martin told Rolling Stone. "The major points of the ending will be things I told five or six years ago. But there may also be changes, and there’ll be a lot added."

After The Winds of Winter’s release, Martin still has one more novel, A Dream of Spring, to go. This means we’re likely looking at upwards of 10 years from now, realistically, for the novel series to end, as it’s been nearly eight years since A Dance With Dragons debuted. So even if the books end exactly the same way as the TV show, it might be long enough from now that people won't care. But here’s to hoping that’s not the case!