After Game of Thrones came to its grand, Bran ending on Sunday night, George R.R. Martin decided to write a thank-you and farewell to the HBO series’s creators, cast, and crew, and to promise that the ending to his A Song of Ice and Fire book series will and won’t resemble what happened onscreen. “THE WINDS OF WINTER is very late, I know, I know, but it will be done. I won’t say when, I’ve tried that before, only to burn you all and jinx myself … but I will finish it, and then will come A DREAM OF SPRING,†Martin wrote on his blog. “How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different? Well … yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.â€
For one, Martin said, “I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget,†adding that he expects the last two books will fill 3,000 manuscript pages and “if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them.†Plus, there are characters that never appeared onscreen that exist in the books, and ones that died on TV that haven’t died on the page. “If nothing else, the readers will learn what happened to Jeyne Poole, Lady Stoneheart, Penny and her pig, Skahaz Shavepate, Arianne Martell, Darkstar, Victarion Greyjoy, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Aegon VI, and a myriad of other characters both great and small that viewers of the show never had the chance to meet,†Martin said, adding that he expects there’ll be a big book-versus-show debate at the end of it all, even if it’s a “silly question†to choose between them. “How about this? I’ll write it. You read it. Then everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet.â€
In his good-byes to all involved in the series, Martin also revealed a little bit about the other Hollywood projects everyone is involved in. “I’ve five shows in development at HBO (some having nothing whatsoever to do with the world of Westeros),†Martin wrote, referencing the prequel shows in development, “two at Hulu, one on the History Channel.â€Â He noted that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are heading off to their Star Wars project, while Game of Thrones producer Bryan Cogman is heading over to Amazon, which according to Martin, “put him to work on developing shows of his own, as well as helping out on their big Tolkien project.†That’s right: Cogman is working on Amazon’s big, secret, very expensive Lord of the Rings show. Epic fantasy TV lives on!