Game of Thrones has been on the air for six seasons now, and one of the highly identifiable things about the TV series is the relationship that the two showrunners have with the original author of the series the TV show is based on. George R.R. Martin might still be championing HBO's fantasy drama, but he hasn't always been go with the flow about the process, according to David Benioff and Dan Weiss. Here's what the two showrunners had to say in a recent interview:
He'd got Emmy nominations before this [show] so he knew how the sausage got made. A lot of authors who have their work adapted have never been part of an adaptation process before and they get really precious about every last thing.Not to say that George has agreed with everything we've done, but by and large, on the grander scale, he gets what you need to do to adapt something and he's a grown-up and a gentleman about it.
Honestly, in terms of how author evaluations go, this one isn't half bad. Benioff and Weiss have worked with George R.R. Martin for quite some time, and while they aren't about to paint a picture of a guy who just blindly agrees with what the show is doing 100% of the time, they do call him a gentleman. So if you were picturing an agitated dude shaking his big beard, that doesn't seem to be exactly what is happening, even if the author is vociferous with the two showrunners every one and awhile. The showrunner's comments to the UFC Unfiltered podcast make it clear that he's used to the process and wants to make sure at the end of the day that all sides are on the same page.
Honestly, George R.R. Martin is in kind-of a unique position in terms of where his books are and where the series is. While shows like Outlander and The Walking Dead also have some author involvement, neither show has caught up to where Diana Gabaldon and Robert Kirkman are in their respective writings. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, had mostly caught up to or even surpassed the books by the end of Season 5. So Martin has had to work with the showrunners to explain his vision for where the A Song of Ice and Fire series is eventually heading. We know for a fact that he sat down and talked with David Benioff and Dan Weiss to explain exactly why Hodor says Hodor and he's also had a hand at plotting out the rest of the series, which is likely why the showrunners feel confident that 13 or so more episodes should finish out the series. Martin has also had a hand in writing episodes of the HBO drama in the past.
Since he is still busy writing The Winds of Winter, we don't know if George R.R. Martin will be writing an episode in Season 7. We do, however, know a little bit about what to expect from the upcoming seventh season of the popular drama. You can find out more here.
