George R.R. Martin Quashes Rumor He Has Already Finished The Next Two Game Of Thrones Books

Game of Thrones is currently one episode away from ending on TV screens, although the books that the show was based on are still somewhere around Season 5 of the show as author George RR. Martin has taken 8 years so far between Book 5 and Book 6 which will be called The Winds of Winter.

Many fans cite this as the reason that the TV show has been dropping in quality since Season 5 as the writers of the show didn’t have the source material to inspire them. However, actor Ian McElhinney who played Barristan Selmy on the show had recently claimed that Martin had actually finished the books and was holding them back due to an agreement with Game of Thrones showrunners Benioff and Weiss, here is what he said.

“George has already written books six and seven, and as far as he’s concerned there are only seven books. But he struck an agreement with David and Dan, the showrunners on the series, that he would not publish the final two books until the series has completed. So if all goes well, in another month or two we might get Books 6 and 7, and I’m intrigued to know how Barristan, for instance, ends up going through those final two books. George, I talked to him during Season 1 and he did say to me that Barristan had a very interesting journey. But unfortunately, I didn’t get to play all of that, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

However, thanks to Martin himself on his own blog, we know that the author has rubbished these rumors completely and denied the books have been completed. Honestly, I found this rumor daft to begin with, but I’ll let Martin himself explain why.

“No, THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING are not finished. DREAM is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six. It seems absurd to me that I need to state this. The world is round, the Earth revolves around the sun, water is wet… do I need to say that too? It boggles me that anyone would believe this story, even for an instant. It makes not a whit of sense. Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers — not just here in the US, but all around the world — ever consent to this? They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice & Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense. Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books. So… no, the books are not done. HBO did not ask me to delay them. Nor did David & Dan. There is no ‘deal’ to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David & Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if THE WINDS OF WINTER had been delivered and published four or five years ago… and NO ONE would have been more delighted than me.”

So there you have it, Martin has not completed books which is he is holding back. In fact, I wish he had completed the books and then we may have gotten a more faithful adaptation of the books in the show. There’s no doubting that the quality of the writing and the character arcs has dropped since they ran out of source material and whist the ending of the show may be very similar to the books, the journey the characters take to get there I am sure will be much more satisfying.

RELATED: Game Of Thrones The Bells Recap (Rant): This Episode Was An Absolute Travesty

It seems strange to say, but while I like the ending of this story as its playing out in the show, it really doesn’t feel earned enough by having not enough time to take characters from point A to point B. And the less said about Jaime Lannister’s arc turning into a wave, the better.

Are you a little bit sad that this rumor isn’t true, or were you already on, this rumor is BS train? Fire your comments with Euron Greyjoy like accuracy into the usual spot below

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SOURCE: George R.R. Martin

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