Game of Thrones showrunners reveal why they chose to deviate from George R. R. Martin’s books

The debate surrounding Game of Thrones season 8 goes on. HBO’s lucrative mint has been off the screen for five years, yet chatter about it still doesn’t stop. After all, the enormously successful and groundbreaking program split its fan base with a contentious and hurriedly produced final season.

However, even before the controversial finale, the showrunners took several liberties with the storyline and decided to deviate from George R. R. Martin’s books.

Why Game of Thrones showrunners did not follow George R. R. Martin’s blueprint

Though David Benioff and D. B. Weiss made several changes to the original script, the storyline felt really off after Season 6. In a recent interview with THR, Benioff explained, “During the first couple of seasons of Thrones, a lot of people were like, ‘Why didn’t they put in this scene?’ They wanted a literal adaptation of every single page.”

“I always wondered, ‘Would people like that if they actually got it?’ Now we have that with this, where there’s one extremely faithful adaptation and then ours, which is less so, and others can judge how they stack up.” 

Benioff is talking about the Chinese adaptation of the 3 Body Problem, which was finished before Netflix’s version and follows the novels more closely.

Maisie Williams also felt a gradual decline in Game of Thrones’ quality

Benioff and Weiss have been accused of focusing more on their now-canceled Star Wars trilogy than the final season of the wildly popular HBO epic.

Even the show’s actors, such as Maisie Williams, felt that the show was going in a direction that wasn’t desirable. In an earlier interview, the Game of Thrones star admitted, “It definitely fell off at the end. It started really strong. (But) It kinda popped off. I was heartbroken when Ned died. For the first time, I could really feel the story.”

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