Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead, was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone, and he had some interesting things to say about Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire creator George R.R. Martin. If you’re a fan of Kirkman’s work, then I highly suggest reading the entire interview, but for the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on what he said about Martin.
When discussing his plans for the “end game” of his The Walking Dead comic, Kirkman was asked if he would ever reveal the ending to the writers behind AMC’s The Walking Dead show.
"I would never do that. That’s the one thing I’m disappointed in George R.R. Martin for doing. He should have just been like, F**k you. You make it up now, I’ll get to mine when I’m ready."
Kirkman is referring to the fact that Martin outlined what would happen in his story after it became clear that HBO’s Game of Thrones was going to move past the point where he’d left it at the end of A Dance with Dragons. Now, in Season 6, the show is going beyond that point, and this is the first time in the series’ history when there has been almost no book material to reference.
The lead-up to Game of Thrones Season 6 was an anxious event for fans of Martin’s books. As an avid reader, I was nervous about how showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss would handle major events that haven’t happened in the books yet, such as Jon Snow’s resurrection or the reveal of the origins of the White Walkers. The show has now addressed those topics, and they’ve changed it for good. Without a sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series to fall back on, book-readers like myself are left wondering if these events have been spoiled for us, or if Martin will handle them differently.
However, Kirkman should be careful about lobbing stones when he himself lives in such a large glass house. Season 6 of The Walking Dead ended on a massive cliffhanger involving new villain Negan, a cliffhanger that left everyone wondering if AMC and Kirkman were just trying to squeeze out more ratings for the Season 7 premiere, or if Kirkman was planning on changing who would die at the hands of Negan’s barbed wire bat, Lucille.
Season 6 of The Walking Dead also changed things from the books. For example, the fact that major character Abraham, played by Michael Cudlitz, survived the entire season means that AMC isn’t following Kirkman’s wildly popular graphic novels exactly.
On the other hand, I can see where Robert Kirkman is coming from. The Walking Dead is the most popular show on network television, and with the comics recently hitting issue #155, there is no chance the show will catch up anytime soon, if at all. Game of Thrones is the most popular television series in the world, but unless loyal book fans want to forego the HBO show and cut themselves off from society at large, they’re probably going to be spoiled for The Winds of Winter and beyond.
By the time Game of Thrones Season 6 ends, there will be even more big reveals from the books, and while the show has been amazing of late, the spoilers could have book fans freaking out. Hopefully, Martin completes Winds sometime soon.