Dave99

I saw an article recently that indicated they've had lots of talks, and know how it ends. The show producers indicated they'll get to the same ending, but might tweak a few things and follow some different paths to get there.

Josh-da-man

I also wouldn't be surprised if Martin changes his planned ending after the tv series ends.

Actually, I am skeptical that Martin will ever finish the series himself. The story keeps growing as he's telling it, and his output is also slowing down.

ASOIAF started out as a trilogy of three books, which then expanded from six books, and then to seven when the fourth book got so long that he had to add in a seventh novel. A Dance with Dragons was to have been book four, but it was so long that he had to publish the first half as A Feast for Crows. And even then, A Dance with Dragons was so long that he had to hold back chapters for inclusion in The Winds of Winter. So book SIX still includes material intended for book FOUR. So I am highly skeptical that he can wrap this up in two more books.

While he got the first three books on a fairly regular schedule, there was five years between A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, and six years between A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. Following that pattern, The Winds of Winter won't be out until 2016-2018, and book seven won't be published until 2023-2026, and book seven may not even be the final book in the cycle...

slop101

Martin has good ideas for character and story, but his actual writing is pretty weak. The last couple books have been a real chore. At this point, the show is far superior to the books as it takes his ideas, improving on them and making them more palatable.

pinata242

This is pretty great with some awesome jokes for the parents!

<iframe width="628" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dhWUFXvaZjo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

johnnysd

I think it is funny and a little sad to see GRRMs books take the same path and ultimately receive the same criticisms that Jordan's WOT series did. I remember when the third book had come out for ASOIAF how everyone thought GRRM was completely different, and that it would be completed in 6 books in just a few years and then GRRM started having the same issues Jordan had with his epic. They both write in the same basic process, which is not outlined but overall major events. GRRM thought he could get to the in Book 1 and took till Book 3. As the story goes on it gets harder and harder to get from point A to B in the story and as a result the length of the books gets more and more out of control and they get harder to write. I do not agree with a previous poster that said he is not a great writer. That is not true. But the last two books which are essentially 1.25 books of story have been somewhat muddled and often boring. I still look forward to the books, but I am completely OK with the show spoiling the books at this point

Dr. DVD

Any word on when HBONow will be available?

Philzilla

Pretty astute analysis. At least even at his slowest Jordan got a book out every three years. It takes GRRM longer now than it did Robert Jordan last books, and he was dead.

Josh-da-man

Martin's original plan was to have five years pass between book three (A Storm of Swords) and book four (A Dance with Dragons) to allow time for the children to become young adults and the dragons to mature more.

Martin scrapped this plan after finishing ASoS and starting ADwD. This is one of the things that caused the five year delay between books and why he ended up splitting ADwD into two books (A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons). He also ran into some plot problems (aka the "Myreenese knot").

All things considered, I really wish he would have just stuck with the five year time jump.

hanshotfirst1138

The fear that Martin won't live to finish everything seems to be deep-seated among the fanbase.

Nibbio

haha yes lol

EctoCooler

The last two books sucked anyway. The show is now better. Who cares if he finishes them.

starseed1981

I'm a huge fan of the books. But at this point, as mentioned above, the series is superior to the novels in just about every way.

MrX

Didn't see this posted anywhere

<iframe width="512" height="288" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=tm8jxnemcj7cvo6rtyrxxq" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dave99

that was pretty good.

slop101

Fuck that shit - I ain't sitting through a 30 second ad for a 4 minute bit.

Axeramm

that vid was pretty funny

Dr. DVD

That was funny. Good that these actors have a such humor about their work.

My plan is to watch the season premiere live on HBO Cable as I am certain HBO Now will most likely crash, but I do have it ready after I drop cable next week. Speaking of watching it live on HBONow, where is it you go to watch stuff live on that app? I don't see anything that currently gives the option.

Hiro11

I can see both sides to this:
1. Book readers shouldn't blatantly and deliberately post uncovered spoilers with the intent to spoil non-reader viewers. This is clearly an indefensible asshole move.
2. On the other hand, people who don't want to read the books and are sensitive to spoilers need to take some responsibility here. People who don't want to be spoiled should probably stay away from online discussions or commentary threads that have the potential to spoil them. If you're going to delve into the online discussions, don't get offended if you're spoiled. Also, don't assume that people dropping minor spoilers are doing it deliberately. I know I have a tough time remembering precisely what has happened show vs what has not been covered yet in every single storyline. This simply isn't that big a deal to me, I don't memorize every scene and mentally compare it to the book counterpart. When even a character name becomes a spoiler I think people need to chill out a bit. The militancy has forced me to give up participating in these thread here on GoT and I think it's a bit silly. Just my opinion.

Luckly, this is increasingly a moot point at this stage as the show has started to catch up to the books.

barelypure

So TWC is having free HBO this weekend, probably with the idea of getting people to subscribe after seeing GoT. I'll watch then go back to streaming. It's not worth it to pay for HBO for just 1 show.

tucker

season 5 recap



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x9bVpkigy5s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Defiant1

They forgot the Reek and Oberyn subplots.

Jay G.

Key and Peele did a recap as well:

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J0XbcNcNJgQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0XbcNcNJgQ

dhmac

I heard that Season 5 is going to use the remaining material from both "Book 4: A Feast for Crows" and "Book 5: A Dance with Dragons" in the series. Which means starting in the following season (Season 6), the show will be mostly on its own (aside from the outline GRRM gave the showrunners).

If this is true - wow! - there must be a lot of fluff in books 4 & 5 to allow them to cut so much out and fit the important storylines into just a single 10-episode season.

Breakfast with Girls

Books 4 and 5 have been spread over two seasons.

DaveyJoe

No, season 4 was mostly book 3, with a few scenes(Bran and Theon) from book 5. Season 5 will be a compressed version of books 4 and 5, and season 6 will be the unfinished book 6. Books 4 and 5 feature a lot of fat and meandering that can be trimmed. There are also quite a few new subplots and side character introduced that will be streamlined or cut entirely It's a good decision to keep the show focused.