GRRM on: How Many Seasons? 

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY is doing a big double-issue about GAME OF THRONES. Four gorgeous variant covers (collect them all, kids!), and pages and pages of material... including a sidebar feature about how long the series will run. Quotes from that are already being reported on various other websites and bulletin boards.

This discussion is nothing new, of course. I get asked similar questions every time I make a public appearance, do an interview, or walk a red carpet. My usual answer is a variant on, "I don\'t know how many seasons the show will run."

This is Hollywood, friends. As William Goldman wrote in ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, in Hollywood "nobody knows anything."

I do know that David & Dan have stated in interviews that they see the show winding up in seven seasons. People send me emails about that every time I say "I don\'t know" in response to the question, as if I were somehow unaware of what D&D have said. I\'m not.

I also know that HBO wants the series to run longer than that. I have known that since the very beginning... well, actually, since the day after the second episode of season one aired, when I had lunch with one of HBO\'s top execs, who told me, "We want this to run ten years." I allowed that ten years sounded fine to me. I continue to hear similar sentiments from HBO every time I have meeting with them, be it in LA or New York.

And it should be pointed out that neither ten seasons or even seven is locked in. Right now, GAME OF THRONES is guaranteed only

six seasons. That\'s all HBO has officially committed to, by contract. We can speculate about additional seasons beyond that, but that\'s all it is, speculation. A lot of things can happen between now and season seven, or eight, or nine, things that cannot be anticipated. Believe me, I\'ve been there. I was on staff on an hour-long TV series that was pulled off the air and retooled as a half-hour show. I was on staff on another show that could easily have run five, six seasons... until our lead actress left, and took most of our audience with her. I had a pilot that was so hot that the network ordered six back-up scripts and all but guaranteed us a midseason slot... but without an actual production order, that meant nothing when the network underwent some big personnel changes, and new people came in.

I am not saying that any of these things will happen with GAME OF THRONES. But they could. Weird stuff happens in television, and there are sooooo many factors involved. Budgets. Actors\' contracts. New shows in development. Ratings (though HBO does not weigh ratings as heavily as the broadcast networks, that does not mean they are unaware of them). Awards.

HBO usually renews their shows for one season at a time. It was very unusual, last year, when they stepped up soon after the season four debut to order

both season five and season six. Bloggers and journalists can speculate as they please, but none of it will mean anything until next year, when season six begins to air. Around the time that the second episode of season six is showing, HBO will order season seven, we hope... or maybe, just maybe, they will order seasons seven AND eight. But even if they just order season seven, that doesn\'t mean that the show will end in seven; it could just represent a return to the original policy of committing to only one season at a time.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying what I said to begin with: no one knows.

I see that this new crop of stories also raises, once again, the notion of concluding the series with one or more feature films. And in some of these stories, once again, this idea is wrongly attributed to me. Let me state, yet again, that while I love this idea, it did NOT originate with me. It was a notion suggested to me, which I have enthusiastically endorsed... but since I was the first person to raise the possibility in public, somehow I am being seen as its father.

Sure, I love the idea. Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film? And the recent success of the IMAX experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea.

As we go forward, I expect I will have a voice in all these decisions. But mine will only be one voice among many, and there are all sorts of other factors that can come into play. I will say, I am incredibly fortunate in having partners like HBO, and David Benioff and Dan Weiss. Seven seasons, ten seasons, with or without one or two feature films... in the end, all that matters is that we tell a great story, with a great end.

Different subject. I\'m reading and loving Old Venus, and was wondering about the process of editing a volume like this. How do the editors decide the order of the stories? How much say do editors have over the content of the stories? Without specifics, have you as an editor ever had to recommend that a story radically change?

Off topic... you should post this on my OLD VENUS post.

Every editor works differently. In our case, Gardner usually selects the order of the stories. I look over the TOC and make suggestions. Yes, we do sometimes suggest radical changes, but not often. If you pick your contributors right, it usually is not necessary. These books are invitation only, so all our writers are seasoned professionals.

in the end, all that matters is that we tell a great story, with a great end.

As a forever book fan, while I love the HBO series all that really matters to *me* is that *you*, Mr. Martin, get to finish telling *your* great story (on your own timetable of course) in print. Everything else, including the HBO show, is gravy.

George... I know you don\'t want to talk much about the books, and I understand and respect that... but I am concerned about the speed of the show and the new books. Is the show going to deviate so much from the books that they will now be 2 different things? Or will you allow the show to spoil the books? I like the show, but I love the books, and think those should come first. The show should adapt your story from the page. Love ya man!

You\'ve certainly supplied them with enough content to make many more seasons. And if they end of making their own ending, well that\'ll be even better. The show being the show and the books being the books.

Was there ever any discussion of the difficulties relating to the child stars getting older over the course of the series? With a long running series, I would assume some thought must have gone into it. Yet the child characters on GoT are now so famous and popular that pulling a Bobby (from Mad Men) and chucking new actors into the roles every season would almost certainly result in lynch mobs and the like.

My own thinking is, when Hodor is lugging around a 30 year old Bran Stark, it might be time to start winding the series to a close.

There\'s no doubt, our young actors have grown up much faster than the characters they portray.

George, do you ever worry about how people will react to the ending? The series is well known for its surprises, but some of the best endings in fantasy didn\'t come as a surprise to readers, while most of the worst ones did.

Are you trying to avoid that in ASOIAF? Trying to make it satisfying without shocking readers?

I\'ve tried to provide a strong ending for every story I have ever written. ICE & FIRE will be no exception.

A lot of people in the fandom feel there is no way the story will be wrapped up in 2 more books given the timeline parallels with the leaked trilogy concept.