‘Game Of Thrones’: George R.R. Martin To Write 8 Books In Total

Game of Thrones fans may look forward to some exciting times ahead, with author George R.R. Martin considering completing a total of eight books in his Songs of Ice and Fire series.

It would be useful here to recount briefly the history of how Game of Thrones came into being. Martin had started writing the first book of his series, called A Game of Thrones, as early as 1991. However, it took about five years for the book to be published, but the release was met with such widespread approval that immediate rumors of it being converted into the cinematic or TV medium soon began to circulate in Hollywood.

Nothing ensued for a decade. Sure enough, rumors still sprang from here and there, but nothing materialized. In 2006, when David Benioff finished reading the first novel, he was so excited at the idea of a TV adaptation that he immediately called and asked D.B. Weiss to read A Game of Thrones. The latter finished reading it in less than two days. They pitched the idea to HBO, who accepted immediately. But it was George R.R. Martin who needed convincing. In an epic five-hour meeting with the author in a restaurant, Benioff and Weiss finally managed to convince a reluctant Martin to agree to become a co-executive producer of Game of Thrones, and the rest as they say, is history.

“Game of Thrones will very likely to end with season 8” Three years of long-waited thrills then ?

— GXXHN™ (@Jieyhaan) August 11, 2015

The deal was to convert one novel into one season. We now sit in 2015, and the sixth book is still not complete, while the fifth season of Game of Thrones has already finished airing. That leaves the writer and the show on par, and according to Martin’s editor, Lesley Groell, it has always been a problem George R.R. Martin has been concerned about. Nerdcore Movement reported her talking about how a five-page barebones-idea extended into what appears now to morph into a full-blooded eight-book series.

“I remember when he called me, years and years back, to confess that his little trilogy was … well … no longer a trilogy. He predicted four books. I said seven books for Seven Kingdoms. Then he said five books. I said seven books for Seven Kingdoms. Then he went to six. I said … Well, you get it. Finally, we were on the same page. Seven Books for Seven Kingdoms. Good. Only, as I recently learned while editing The World of Ice and Fire, there are really technically eight kingdoms, all having to do with who has annexed what when Aegon the Conqueror landed in Westeros. So, maybe eight books for Seven Kingdoms would be okay. Also, he has promised me that, when he finally wraps this great beast, I can publish the five page letter outlining the bare bones of the ‘trilogy.’ “

For Game of Thrones fans, eight seems like the perfect number. Even HBO’s programming president, Michael Lombardo, insinuated in a press tour recently that he would want Benioff and Weiss to stretch Game of Thrones into eight seasons, according to Entertainment Weekly. But chances are the show will be complete before the books are written, which lands George R.R. Martin in a fix. Will he let his audience know the climax of his series through HBO? Or would he still want to keep the meaty part for the book?

It will take us at least three years to know. In the meantime, we have enough Game of Thrones to keep us occupied.

[Photo: Charley Gallay / Getty Images]