HBO’s “Game of Thrones” will return for its fourth season on Sunday, April 6 and the cover story of the April issue of Vanity Fair is all “Thrones” and includes some interesting information on not only the future of the series, but whether or not the series will come to an end before author George R.R. Martin finishes writing the final books that spawned the series in the first place.
Show creator David Benioff is quoted as saying:
Last year we went out to Santa Fe for a week to sit down with [Martin] and just talk through where things are going, because we don’t know if we are going to catch up and where exactly that would be. If you know the ending, then you can lay the groundwork for it. And so we want to know how everything ends. We want to be able to set things up. So we just sat down with him and literally went through every character.
[amz asin=”B00C8CQTJY” size=”small”]Martin admits to giving them the “broad strokes” of what he intends to write adding, “[T]he details aren’t there yet. I’m hopeful that I can not let them catch up with me.”
Being “hopeful” doesn’t seem the same as being optimistic or confident. Considering it took Martin five years to finish the fourth book in the series, “A Feast for Crows“, and another six to finish the fifth, “A Dance with Dragons“, how long might it take for him to finish “The Winds of Winter“, the presumed title for the sixth, and then the anticipated seventh and final novel? Or are seven novels still in the plans?
One thing is certain, Benioff and co-creator D. B. Weiss see the franchise going seven or eight seasons, telling Vanity Fair, “It doesn’t just keep on going because it can. I think the desire to milk more out of it is what would eventually kill it, if we gave in to that.”
If the series ends before Martin finishes the books I have to assume that would put a huge dent in sales, something I’m sure Bantam and Voyager wouldn’t be too pleased about.
Here’s the latest trailer for the fourth season of “Game of Thrones” followed by the most recent season synopsis.
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Encouraged by the Red Wedding slaughter in the Riverlands that wiped out many of their Stark nemeses, the Lannisters’ hold on the Iron Throne remains intact…but can they survive their own egos, as well as new and ongoing threats from the south, north and east? While an unbowed Stannis Baratheon continues to rebuild his army in Dragonstone, a more immediate danger comes from the south, as Oberyn Martell, the Lannister-loathing “Red Viper of Dorne,” arrives at King’s Landing to attend Joffrey’s wedding to Margaery Tyrell, and perhaps act on an ulterior agenda. In the north, a depleted Night’s Watch seems overmatched against the inexorable Wall advances of Mance Rayder’s army of wildlings, which in turn is being trailed by an even more formidable foe: the undead White Walkers. As if that weren’t enough, Daenerys Targaryen, accompanied by her menacing trio of dragons and army of Unsullied, is poised to liberate Meereen, the largest city in Slaver’s Bay, which could ultimately provide her with enough ships to sail to Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne.
