The 70-year-old author released his third last book in A Song of Ice and Fire in 2011, the same year that Game of Thrones debuted its first season. While he had hoped to finish The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring in time, Martin missed all his deadlines and for the last couple of seasons, the TV show has gone beyond the narrative of the books. He ended up telling the producers how he thought his books would end but didn’t have all the details.
Show-runners Weiss and Benioff ultimately had to decide how their game of thrones would end.
Now in a new interview with 60 Minutes, Martin has admitted that Game of Thrones isn’t his baby anymore, just the books.
He said: “Dave and Dan have done the most popular TV show in the world.
“I gave my baby up for adoption and it’s not my baby anymore. But the books are still my baby.”
In the same interview, Martin lamented how it was a blow when he realised the TV show would overtake his books.
He said: “I published a fifth book [A Dance With Dragons] in 2011 when the series was just going on the air, so I was like five books ahead.
“I was completely confident that I would have the entire series finished. Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring would be out before they got to them.”
Host Anderson Cooper pointed out that Martin once said he would find it alarming if the series overtook the books’ narrative.
Martin responded: “Yes, it was a blow when the series caught up. I didn’t think it would happen.”
Nevertheless, Martin says the Game of Thrones ending won’t be that different to A Dream of Spring, except for secondary characters.
He added: “I don’t think [Game of Thrones show-runners] Dan and Dave’s ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we did have.
“We’re talking here about several days of story conferences taking place in my home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But there’s no way to get in all the detail, all the minor characters, all the secondary characters.”