Two years ago, it was becoming clear to Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss that the the show was going to outpace George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. With an eye toward putting the bones of the story in place well ahead of time, they met with Martin in Santa Fe, and the author outlined his plan for how the story would go. We can’t know all the details that Martin revealed (and keep in mind that he’s the kind of writer who develops his story as he goes along), but Benioff did say there were “three holy s**t moments” that stood out. We’ve already seen two of those moments adapted for the small screen:
- Shireen being ritually sacrificed, seen in Season 5’s “The Dance of Dragons”
- Hodor’s origin story, revealed just this past Sunday in “The Door”
And what’s the last one? According to Benioff, the third shocking moment “is from the very end…”
So far as speculation fodder goes, it doesn’t get much better than that. There’s at least one plot twist that’s so widely expected I don’t think it’ll qualify as a “holy s**t moment” nor do I think it’ll be held until “the very end,” but it’s impossible to know. What do you think this final twist involves?
Benioff also talked more generally about the relationship between the show and the books now that the former has overtaken the latter. While the show will spoil the books to a certain extant, it may not be as severe as some fans are expecting. “People are talking about whether the books are going to be spoiled – and it’s really not true,” he said.
"So much of what we’re doing diverges from the books at this point. And while there are certain key elements that will be the same, we’re not going to talk so much about that – and I don’t think George is either. People are going to be very surprised when they read the books after the show. They’re quite divergent in so many respects for the remainder of the show."
Benioff and Weiss have been talking about bringing the show to an end lately, and it sounds like they have their plan for that ending in place. As for how closely it’ll resemble the ending to A Song of Ice and Fire, we’ll have to wait and see.