HBO's 'Game of Thrones' will show storylines ahead of the books because George RR Martin missed a crucial deadline
Martin confirmed on his personal blogging website that he failed to meet the December 31 deadline for his sixth book, "The Winds of Winter," and therefore when the new season of Game of Thrones goes live in early 2016, the TV show will surpass what has happened in the books.
Here are some excerpts from his blog explaining what happened:
THE WINDS OF WINTER is not finished.
Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, "I have completed and delivered THE WINDS OF WINTER" on or before the last day of 2015.
But the book's not done.
Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. (Those 'no pages done' reports were insane, the usual garbage internet journalism that I have learned to despise). But there's also a lot still left to write. I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.) Chapters still to write, of course... but also rewriting. I always do a lot of rewriting, sometimes just polishing, sometimes pretty major restructures.
Martin works closely with HBO's TV producers to make sure the TV series mirrors the contents of the books. However, it looks like that the audience will now learn more about what happens in the books before they are published.