George R.R. Martin: Game of Thrones could’ve gone “11, 12, 13 seasons”

Last night, George R.R. Martin hit the red carpet along with the cast and crew of Game of Thrones, and shared in the glory as the show took home its third Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. “I didn’t think we would win,” he told US Weekly. “In all of the entertainment press beforehand, everyone was picking Handmaid’s Tale, and then when we actually got to tonight, The Americans was winning one after another after another. So at that point, I thought, ‘Well, it’s going to be one of those two.’ And I was thrilled that it was us!”

"It’s such a strong category these days. This is not like the old days when there were three networks. I mean, there are 150 people doing great television. This really is the golden age of television and so many good shows, and we were up against a number of them. This Is Us and Handmaid’s Tale, The Americans, Westworld — what an amazing array of competitors."

Martin’s appearance gave reporters a rare chance to pepper him with questions, since these days he mostly stays at home working on the final two books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. “I’m working on Winds of Winter,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I wish I’d been done four years ago, honestly, but I’m slow, and the book is very complex, and there are a lot of distractions. But I’m making progress, and trying to eliminate as many distractions as I can, but it’s hard, because there are a lot of great distractions out there.”

Among those distractions is Who Fears Death, a new HBO series based on Nnedi Okorafor’s science fiction book of the same name. Martin will serve as executive producer. “We’re developing that to be, I hope, one of the next big HBO fantasy series,” he told Variety. He’s also “committed” to the various Game of Thrones prequels on the horizon, one of which has already advanced to the pilot stage. “We have five other shows, five prequels in development, that are based on other periods in the history of Westeros, some of them just 100 years before Game of Thrones, some of them 5000 years before Game of Thrones.”

One thing that’s in no danger of distracting him is Game of Thrones itself, which wraps up next year. But if Martin had his way, it would have continued for a while longer. “We could’ve gone to 11, 12, 13 seasons, but I guess wanted a life,” he joked. “If you’ve read my novels, you know there was enough material for more seasons. They made certain cuts. But that’s fine.”

"David and Dan have been saying for like five years that seven seasons is all they would go. And we got them to go to eight but not any more than that…There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won; they’re the ones actually working on it."

Thirteen seasons of Game of Thrones…that’s a very interesting alternate reality. Is it one you wished you lived in?

I think there would be pros and cons. Pro: more Game of Thrones is good. Con: it’s hard to sustain quality television over a long period, and a lot of the actors — specifically the younger ones — would likely age past the point where they could realistically play kids and teenagers. Martin mentioned the cast members, as well. “I know all of the actors, as great as they are, all the actors are anxious to get on and play other roles. They don’t want to spend their entire lives playing one role and that’s fine, that’s great, we had such an amazing cast…I was honored to work with them.”

But we don’t all need to talk about Game of Thrones as if it’s in the past. There’s still one season to go. Was he emotional when he heard about how the final season would go down? “Well, you know, most of it is based on what I planned,” he told Entertainment Tonight, “so I got emotional about it 20 years ago, when I first thought of some of these things.”

It’s no secret that, as Game of Thrones went on, it diverged more and more from Martin’s novels. It’s intriguing to hear that they may realign in the endgame. As to what that endgame will involve, Martin was predictably coy, although he seems open to the possibility of more death. “All men must die,” he quipped. “Valar morghulis.” He also repeated that the final season would be “bittersweet,” a word that comes up a lot in relation to the ending. “Tolkien, the end of Lord of the Rings, which I always found had a wonderful bittersweet quality. That’s the kind of thing I like.”

Finally, speaking to the press right after the win for Outstanding Drama, Martin reflected on what Game of Thrones had done for TV as a whole:

"I think television has always been changing, but what’s exciting to me — I’ve spent my life in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, and until Game of Thrones, although science fiction and fantasy shows had occasionally been nominated for the Emmy, they had never actually won it. And the amount of recognition we’ve gotten, I think…I dunno if it’s changed television, but it’s changed science fiction and fantasy fantasy. And we’ve achieved a level of respectability thanks to the genius of these actors and producers and writers that has made us equal to any genre."

This is a treasure trove of insights from Martin! And we end off without letting him give his thoughts on Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Rose Leslie (Ygritte) getting married, something he considers “my fault.”

"I told Kit, ‘What if I had written a love scene with a different actress?’ Who knows who he would be marrying?"

Speaking of alternate realities…

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