George R.R. Martin Promises His Book Ending Won’t Match HBO’s Game of Thrones

Seven years after HBO’s Game of Thrones signed off in a storm of backlash, George R.R. Martin has finally given book readers the answer they’ve been waiting for: his ending will not repeat the show’s.

Speaking at the Oxford Union, Martin was asked directly whether A Song of Ice and Fire will conclude the same way the TV series did in 2019. His response was blunt enough to draw cheers from the crowd. “No, the books are not going to end that way,” he said. “They’re not.”

Why Martin Won’t Critique the TV Finale

Martin also declined to offer “constructive criticism” of the show’s polarizing final season, arguing that doing so would give away too much about his own plans. “I really can’t answer that without giving away what I’m planning,” he explained in the interview, which is available via the Oxford Union’s YouTube channel here.

The author admitted his biggest regret isn’t the TV ending at all, but the simple fact that his books still aren’t done. It has been 15 years since A Dance with Dragons, the fifth volume, was published, and fans have endured a long, messy wait for book six, The Winds of Winter. Martin has said he’s written roughly 1,100 pages of the new novel but keeps revising, calling the process the “curse of my life” in one extensive timeline of his progress.

That slow progress has become a story of its own. Readers have watched deadline after deadline slip, and Martin himself has acknowledged the frustration openly in interviews tracking the book’s non–release date. Still, he insists he—and only he—will finish the saga, firmly rejecting the idea of another author stepping in if he can’t complete it.

Winds of Winter, Dunk & Egg, and a Very Busy Westeros

Part of the problem is that Martin’s plate is far more crowded than it was when HBO first bought Game of Thrones. He is juggling new Dunk & Egg novellas, a second volume of his Targaryen history Fire & Blood, and deep involvement in multiple TV projects, from House of the Dragon to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Those growing commitments have already slowed The Winds of Winter, as we’ve explored in our coverage of GRRM’s TV obligations dragging out the Winds of Winter delay.

At the same time, Westeros keeps expanding on screen. House of the Dragon is heading into its 2026 season, with a third season in post-production and a fourth being written, further cementing HBO’s long-term investment in Martin’s world according to production reports. Martin has even sketched out up to a dozen potential new Dunk & Egg stories for HBO’s future, enough to rival the original show’s scope in our earlier look at his ambitious Dunk & Egg roadmap.

For book-first fans, though, the Oxford Union comments cut through the noise. Whatever else happens with HBO, A Song of Ice and Fire is heading toward a different destination than the one they saw on television. When they’ll actually get there remains the question—but at least now, they know it won’t just be a rewatch on the page.