It's not much of a secret that George R.R. Martin, creator and writer of the epic fantasy novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire," has been a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to finishing his seven-book saga. The fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, was released in 2011 and the sixth, The Winds of Winter, was recently confirmed by Martin's publisher as not seeing print until 2016 at the earliest.
So, it's not much of a surprise that Variety provided confirmation that the HBO television adaptation, Game of Thrones, will start spoiling Martin's last two unpublished books starting with Season 6.
Show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss spoke at the Oxford Union over the weekend and addressed the issue of Game of Thrones reaching the finish line first. "Luckily," remarked Benioff, "we’ve been talking about this with George for a long time, ever since we saw this could happen, and we know where things are heading. And so we’ll eventually, basically, meet up at pretty much the same place where George is going. There might be a few deviations along the route, but we’re heading towards the same destination. I kind of wish that there were some things we didn’t have to spoil, but we’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The show must go on...and that’s what we’re going to do."
The article does mention that Martin has cancelled appearances at several conventions, which often contributed to his procrastination, so that he can finish The Winds of Winter, possibly as early as this summer. However, as his fans know all too well by now, it won't happen 'til it happens.
And even if Martin does manage to get The Winds of Winter out before Season 6 begins airing on HBO, the odds of seeing the final book, A Dream of Spring, before the final Game of Thrones episode airs are about the same as being struck by lightning. Twice.
As for what this might do to sales of the final book whenever it does get released, Benioff was pretty optimistic, saying "I think the thing that’s kind of fun for George is the idea that he can still have surprises for people even once they’ve watched the show through to the conclusion. There are certain things that are going to happen in the books that are different in the show, and I think people who love the show and want more—want to know more about the characters, want to know more about the different characters who might not have made the cut for the show—will be able to turn to the books."