George R.R. already said he was sitting out production on Season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, foregoing his usual contribution of one script per season to focus on finishing the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter. This weekend Martin took to his personal blog to announce that his script-writing hiatus will continue through at least the following season, as well.
[A]fter wrestling with it for a month or so, I’ve decided not to script an episode for season six of GAME OF THRONES. Writing a script takes me three weeks, minimum, and longer when it is not a straight adaptation from the novels. And really, it would cost me more time than that, since I have never been good at changing gears from one medium to another and back again. Writing a season six script would cost me a month’s work on WINDS, and maybe as much as six weeks, and I cannot afford that. With David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bryan Cogman on board, the scriptwriting chores for season six should be well covered. My energies are best devoted to WINDS.
No distractions!
I mean, kind of!
Martin did go on to say that he still has plenty on his plate. There is a development deal with HBO, and movie-producing commitments, and the relatively full — albeit trimmed — appearance schedule of the creator of a pop culture phenomenon. So, he’s still a very busy man. Just a little less busy now.
