The final season of Game of Thrones is almost here and yet book readers are still waiting for The Winds of Winter. However, George R.R. Martin wants to assure A Song of Ice and Fire fans that Game of Thrones Season 8 will not spoil anything about Book 6 or the last book A Dream of Spring.
Martin recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Game of Thrones Season 8, admitting that he has no idea what will happen in the final season. After all, he has been working hard on The Winds of Winter. However, the author says that the book will be different from the series conclusion.
"I haven't read the [final-season] scripts and haven't been able to visit the set because I've been working on Winds," Martin said. "I know some of the things. But there's a lot of minor-character [arcs] they'll be coming up with on their own. And, of course, they passed me several years ago. There may be important discrepancies."
Interestingly, Game of Thrones executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss admitted that they have some ideas on what Martin is planning for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. However, they refused to reveal what the "important discrepancies" are.
"Now that the show is ahead of the books, it seems the show could ruin the books for people. So one thing we've talked to George about is that we're not going to tell people what the differences are, so when those books come out people can experience them fresh," Benioff said.
Although Game of Thrones is ending this year, Martin says that he still has a long way to go because he'll still be working on A Dream of Spring once he's done with The Winds of Winter.
"It's the end for a lot of people," Martin said. "It's not the end for me. I'm still deeply in it. I better live a long time because I have a lot of work left to do."
The Winds of Winter release date has not yet been revealed. Nevertheless, fans are hoping that the sixth ASOIAF novel will be published by next year.
Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on HBO on April 14.
Related: Kit Harington Confirms One Game Of Thrones Season 8 Theory About Jon Snow
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