George R.R. Martin: the books could finish before Game of Thrones “if the show runs ten seasons”

After confirming yesterday that rumors of his death have been greatly exaggerated, George R.R. Martin took to his Not a Blog today to hype the Season 6 trailer. He reiterated that, because of piracy concerns, HBO will not be sending out press screeners this year, and added that the network has cancelled all regional premieres, “including (sob) the one we had scheduled at my own Jean Cocteau Cinema.” There will only be one premiere event this year: the official one at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in LA.

As is his wont, Martin engaged with fans in his comments section, and seemed fairly patient with people who asked Game of Thrones-related questions. He sometimes frowns upon those, but I suppose this particular post was about Game of Thrones, so the topic was open. He reiterated, for example, that he isn’t writing an episode for Season 6, and said that while he read the outline for the coming year, he didn’t read the scripts themselves. “I have been too busy with the book.”

He also responded to Ahsan Syed, who asked the question most fans dare not ask: “Hey George, I know WINDS wont come out before season 6, but is there a chance that A Dream of Spring will beat the last season of the show?”

"George R.R. Martin: “If the show runs ten seasons, maybe.”"

At the moment, the show seems locked in for eight seasons, and that’s after David Benioff and Dan Weiss were talked up from seven. In other words, there’s no way Martin will complete his series before the show is over. We all knew that, but this can help it sink in.

Also, when asked whether his comment about ten seasons could be taken as confirmation that the show will run that long, he was frank: “No, of course not.”