It’s no secret that Jon Snow’s betrayal at the hands (and blades) of the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones‘ fifth season finale was the last fans would ever see of George R.R. Martin’s books. After all, that’s how he ended 2011’s A Dance with Dragons, the last book published in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. (Yes, we’re still waiting impatiently for The Winds of Winter.) So showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss — with Martin’s consultation and blessing, of course — had to get creative with the Snow-resurrecting sixth season. But that doesn’t mean the notoriously slow author was happy about it.
At least that’s what Benioff and Weiss told the UFC Unfiltered podcast last week, when the conversation turned to their professional relationship with Martin. The showrunners described the 67-year-old writer as “a grown-up and a gentleman,” but admitted their discussions about Game of Thrones‘ book-less future weren’t always completely agreeable.
“He’d got Emmy nominations before this [show] so he knew how the sausage got made. A lot of authors who have their work adapted have never been part of an adaptation process before and they get really precious about every last thing.
“Not to say that George has agreed with everything we’ve done, but by and large, on the grander scale, he gets what you need to do to adapt something and he’s a grown-up and a gentleman about it.”
Despite the executive producers’ candid nature, they weren’t as revealing when it came to the subject of Snow’s second chance at the hands of Melisandre. As Digital Spy put it, the pair “refused to reveal how Martin felt about their subsequent decision to resurrect Snow,” the direct result of the R + L = J theory. Why? Potential book spoilers, Benioff and Weiss claim. Though in order to spoil a book, there has to be one to spoil in the first place.
(Via Digital Spy)
