George R.R. Martin on that Game of Thrones finale….

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has responded to fan reactions over the finale of the HBO series.

On his blog Martin was positive about the series, and at pains to point out the vast constraints in delivering a television work to a literary one.

How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different?

Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.

I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget. They had six hours for this final season. I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done… and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them. And of course the butterfly effect will be at work as well; those of you who follow this Not A Blog will know that I’ve been talking about that since season one. There are characters who never made it onto the screen at all, and others who died in the show but still live in the books… so if nothing else, the readers will learn what happened to Jeyne Poole, Lady Stoneheart, Penny and her pig, Skahaz Shavepate, Arianne Martell, Darkstar, Victarion Greyjoy, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Aegon VI, and a myriad of other characters both great and small that viewers of the show never had the chance to meet. And yes, there will be unicorns… of a sort…

Book or show, which will be the “real” ending? It’s a silly question. How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have?

How about this? I’ll write it. You read it. Then everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet.

You can read more on that here.

Meanwhile HBO programming president Casey Bloys has also answered some questions for the Hollywood Reporter, also backing his showrunners and looking ahead to the prequel …and no sequels.

Much of the criticism is that the final season moved too quickly and many of the big moments did not feel earned. Can you talk us through the decision to do a grand total of 15 more episodes over the past two seasons? Was there a conversation to do more? What do you think of those criticisms? Why end it with an abbreviated run?

No, I cannot talk you through that decision. The guys have known what they’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. They’ve had a plan in their mind. I’ve been on the record saying I’d take five more seasons. But they’ve had a plan that they wanted to do and this made sense to them. They made this decision a long time ago and they’re doing it exactly how they planned to do it.

Was there a conversation then that this might feel … a little compressed?

They made that decision a long time ago. But no, I’m not aware of any conversations that anybody thought it was crammed or anything like that.

Was there a way that Game of Thrones could have continued on without Benioff and Weiss in its current form?

No. I don’t think any of the actors would have done it. Shows have to come to an end. This was eight seasons, it’s a great epic and shows have to come to a close. It’s part of the TV lifecycle.

You’ve got the pilot and two other scripts in the works. What plans do you have at the moment to put other projects into development? Or are you waiting to see what happens with the other two scripts?

There are no plans currently to put anything more in development. We’re not actively looking or going beyond what we’ve got in the current pilot.