Fans are still reeling from Episode 3 of Season 8. Well, some are, while others are protesting that it pulled a shocking switch by removing the Night King so early and in a rather rushed manner. Praise for Arya aside, there is an ongoing suspicion among many fans that the TV show is weaker now that is flying ahead without Martin’s direct source material. The author has always known how the saga will end and has just admitted the “traumatic” reason.
Martin has given a series of outspoken interviews over the past week.
Speaking to Fast Company in a new video interview he said: “When you’re writing short stories and novels, yes you may have editors and all that, but essentially the writer is king. The writer decides how everything is going to be; people can give suggestions, and you can say yes or no to them.”
“Now, when you get involved in television and film, um… you’re working with a large team. But it can also be… traumatic. Because sometimes their creative vision and your creative vision don’t match, and you get the famous creative differences thing — that leads to a lot of conflict.”
He also told Rolling Stone: “Of course you have an emotional reaction. I mean, would I prefer they do it exactly the way I did it? Sure.”
The author confirmed the suspicion that he has been much less involved with the show as the years passed.
Asked if he had seen any of Season 8 he replied: “No, I haven’t. I haven’t … I mean I know some of what’s going on there, but I haven’t actually seen any footage. So I’ll be seeing that for the first time with everybody else. I haven’t read the scripts, although I’ve had meetings with (showrunners) David (Benioff) and Dan (Weiss) where we’ve discussed stuff.”
But what about the ending?
It has always been accepted that Martin’s ending for the books will also be the fixed final point for the show, however, it diverges along the way.
Martin added: “I mean, I think … the major points of the ending will be things that I told them, you know, five or six years ago. But there may also be changes, and there’ll be a lot added.”