Fans Waiting For ‘The Winds Of Winter’ Unhappy With George R.R. Martin Joining ‘Game Of Thrones’ Movie Team: “The Man Could Live To 100 And We Still Won’t Get The Books”

Billy Oduory   |  

Nov 21, 2024

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After Max CEO Casey Bloys announced that George R.R. Martin would be part of the team developing the upcoming Game of Thrones Movie for Warner Bros, many fans, while excited by this announcement, were not very happy with the author.

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Fans’ frustrations recently came to a head when Bloys confirmed at a Warner Bros. press event on November 12th that not only was a Game of Thrones film now in the works, but also that Martin himself would be involved in its development.

While already fed up with the near-decade long delay of his long-awaited The Winds of Winter and Blood & Fire, each book respectively closing out the stories of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, this announcement only served to further disappoint fans given that just a few months ago, Martin already blamed his lack of writing progress on the fact that he was working on his “many TV projects”.

“I did produce some new pages on both THE WINDS OF WINTER (yes) and BLOOD & FIRE (the sequel to FIRE & BLOOD, the second part of my Targaryen history), I would have liked to turn out a lot more,” Martin wrote in a September 9th post to his now-infamous blog. “My various television projects ate up most of those months. Some of that was pleasant (DARK WINDS, and THE HEDGE KNIGHT), most of it was not.”

“The stress kept mounting, the news went from bad to worse to worst, my mood seemed to swing between fury and despair, and at night I tossed and turned when I should have been sleeping. When I did sleep, well, my dreams were none too pleasant either,” Martin added.

In light of his post, the last thing fans expected Martin to do was add another project to his to-do-list that would take his attention away from writing.

However, with his joining of the Game of Thrones movie team, the books now seem further away than ever before. As such, it comes as little surprise that many fans are not thrilled with his new assignment.

“Whatever keeps GRRM from writing the damn books,” wrote /u/Bjorn2bwilde24 on the /r/television subreddit.

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Likewise, /u/v4n20uver asserted, “The man could live to 100, and we still won’t get the books. The only way we get the books is when he goes, and whoever gets his state wants to make money and sells his notes. He’s made way too much money to care anymore.”

“Expect intensive promotion from notorious influencer and blogger GRRM, only for him to later rant on his blog about the lack of ‘fealty’ to the source material, whilst simultaneously promising that he is still ‘working’ on Winds,” one Redditor said in response to Martin’s criticism of both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

His most recent criticisms came in a deleted post titled ‘Beware the Butterflies‘ where he blasted House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal and his team for writing a “critical character” out of the show. Martin revealed it won’t feature Maelor (Aegon II and Helaena’s son) and warned against a potential domino effect on the show’s future.

“It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better,” he said. “Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter”.

Besides the criticism, Martin gave away spoilers about the show’s upcoming third season. According to him, Condal initially assured him that Maelor would come later in the show, but he has since learned it will never happen.

“And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…” he warned. Funnily enough, Martin previously praised the first two episodes of the second season.

Martin’s complaints were a shocker and reports indicated that Condal and the other creators consult closely with him. Condal chose to keep Martin in the loop to avoid making the same mistake made with Game of Thrones when creators didn’t consult Martin for the final four seasons.

He later blamed the creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss for excluding him, but other reports suggest he left the show willingly to work on The Winds of Winter, which he has yet to complete.

In response to Martin’s criticism of Ryan Condal and House of the Dragon, the HBO boss played down the animosity. “We love George…Obviously, I will say George and ‘Game of Thrones’ really changed the course of HBO. So I want him to be happy. He’s very important to me, to us,” said Bloys.

“But when we put shows together, you know, you’re putting a marriage together and marriages can be difficult, especially when Ryan is making creative decisions, adapting work. It can be fraught, and like any marriage, sometimes it gets rocky,” he continued.

Martin’s complaints have also proved contradictory and divisive in the fan base. The critical fans are, therefore, expecting a similar reaction from him as he joins the upcoming film.

It is still in its early stages of development, so the release could be a long while off, but there is optimism about the movie’s prospects as there are fans who still have faith in it.

NEXT: ‘House Of The Dragon’ Showrunner Ryan Condal Compares Incest Scene To ‘Back To The Future’