The One Thing Martin Would Change About GoT - and It's Not the Ending
George RR Martin famously had less influence on later seasons of Game of Thrones than he had over the first few.
It's widely acknowledged that he was not entirely happy with the direction the writers went as the show developed with ever-decreasing input from the writer of A Song of Ice & Fire.
In fact, he is on record as saying (perhaps slightly tongue in cheek) that he contributed nothing to the final few seasons other than, "you know, inventing the world, the story, and all the characters".
So, you might guess that, like the majority of fans, he wants to change the ending.
Well, not quite. The series ended controversially after 8 seasons – and let's not forget the final two seasons were considerably shorter than the first 6.
The author reportedly had more say in the first season of House of the Dragon than he did over the later episodes of GoT.
And speaking to the Wall Street Journal in the run-up to the launch of the prequel show in August 2022 he admitted that he "lost" the argument over how many seasons of GoT should have been produced.
"I was saying it needs to be 10 seasons at least and maybe 12, 13," he said.
Now, this does, of course, call into question whether the author is unhappy with the ending – even if he hasn't expressly stated that in this instance.
Another 2 (maybe up to 5) seasons would have naturally involved more political manoeuvring, fallings out, conflicting relationships and death.
If they had followed Martin's advice and agreed to continue churning out more seasons of the hit show, the whole shape of the series would have changed.
As such, the writers would have had to look beyond the end of season 8 when deciding which direction to take it in, who was to be sacrificed for the sake of the storyline, and who would ultimately end up on the throne.
Certainly, the ending we got would have been altered. Even if season 8 had ended with Bran the Broken as king, would the Iron Throne have perished? And what would have been the reaction to his ascension to the throne?
While fan forums may have discussed what went on in the world post season 8, the writers have never had to deal with that thorny issue.
Martin, on the other hand, continues to write the book series so we may still get a glimpse of where he thought those later seasons of the TV show might have gone.