Obviously, we knew the end was coming for Game of Thrones, but the newly-released Season 8 trailer really, truly drove that home for us yesterday. Now George R.R. Martin is weighing in on the worldwide phenomenon based on his novels coming to an end, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he has “mixed feelings.”
“It’s been an incredible ride,” Martin told EW’s James Hibberd in a recent interview. “And almost all of it has been great. Obviously, I wished I finished these books sooner so the show hadn’t gotten ahead of me. I never anticipated that.”
Martin also revealed to Hibberd that he’s as much in the dark about how the series ends as the viewers are.
“I haven’t read the [final-season] scripts and haven’t been able to visit the set because I’ve been working on Winds,” he said, referring to The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. “I know some of the things. But there’s a lot of minor-character [arcs] they’ll be coming up with on their own. And, of course, they passed me several years ago. There may be important discrepancies.”
That Martin is so focused on completing Winds is good news for those of us chomping at the bit for the next book. He seems to feel the importance of continuing the overall story, even as the small-screen version is drawing to a close.
“It’s the end for a lot of people,” Martin said. “It’s not the end for me. I’m still deeply in it. I better live a long time because I have a lot of work left to do.”
39 days! #ForTheThrone
Can’t wait for April 14th, this has been one hell of a ride.
I was talking with my partner the other night and we started naming all the ways reading the next book is going to be so damn weird. Jojen Reed is still alive in the books! Jon’s still dead! Sansa is…. on a different planet from showSansa. Stannis could still end up on the Iron Throne.
We like to imagine GRRM as being petty enough to change the book ending just so he gets to tell the true ending of his tale haha
Sometimes I like to joke to my friends about who´ll end his work first. Geroge R R Martin or Kentaro Miura?
My eyes are looking forward for the show as my brain is looking forward for the book!!
“I better live a long time because I have a lot of work left to do.”
Eek!!! George!! Don’t tempt fate!!!
“It’s not the end for me. I’m still deeply in it. I better live a long time because I have a lot of work left to do.”
Well that’s not at all reassuring, lol. I won’t be suprised one bit if it gets delayed again this year.
Love that I still have books to look forward to. And love that there are differences, it keeps things interesting!
As I usually say, the books and the TV show are completely separate stuff for me. I don’t compare one to another for most of the time. Haha but it’s funny that I used to joke that maybe GRRM won’t even get book 6 out before the show closes… and now this joke became a reality.
I loved the first three books, but 4 & 5 were so confused, and the show so compelling, I wonder if I’ll ever get back to them. Maybe in 10 years when the last book is out I’ll start from the beginning.
Laura,
I always have the feeling that in the books stannis wil sit on the iron throne for a short moment. Cercei will die sooner by stannis hand. He is the volanqar. (she said the volanqar not your volanqar. Right after talking about Robert). (or maybe it’s Griff who is the volanqar)
My pet peeve: One CHAMPS at the bit not “chomps”. If you chomped a bit you’d break your teeth.
“I’ve been working on Winds” I love that! I really hope it gets published soon! 🙂
I re-read first three books in past 3 months while rewatching the show as well (and I read them in English for first time). But I think I’ll stop with reading here. Not in mood for AFFC and ADWD.
Funny, I debated this today with someone on Reddit.
It’s interesting that he specifically said that minor character arcs will be different.
Implicitly confirming what we had heard years ago, which is that major character arcs will be fundamentally the same.
I’m glad to hear it again, because I was beginning to wonder just how much they were making up.
Of course this also depends on how he defines the concept of a “minor” character. Is Melisandre minor ? Brienne ? Davos ?
In any case, to me, if Jon, Dany, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Euron, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Sam, Davos, and Theon have fundamentally the same fates on the show as they do in the books, I’ll be very happy.
I also want what comes of Jon’s parentage to be the same, character-wise and politically, as well as, obviously, the resolution of the conflict with the WW and the war for the Iron Throne.
If all those things hew closely to GRRM’s outline, I’ll be satisfied.
Kevin1989,
I doubt it. There will likely be major differences, but I’m quite sure the books are still going to hit the major story beats the show gave us.
* Jon is ressurected (Stoneheart, not Mel)
* Stannis sacrifices Shireen (yes, yes, I know not all think this will happen, but I’m not having that debate again, so please don’t bother) and dies not long after (details and reasons will be different and it will likely happen much later in the story, possibly even book 7)
* Theon saves Sansa (or Jayne Pool? Well, someone of consequence, I’m sure) and breaks away from Ramsey
*Battle of the Bastards happens (not sure, but I think it’s likely. If not, Stannis will defeat the Boltons before his demise)
* Tommen dies and Cercei becomes queen.
* Daenerys takes over Dothraki leadership (and possibly makes alliances like in the show)
* Daenerys initial warplan will fail
* Night King gets a dragon (or two)
* Cercei will betray Jaime and he will leave to fight alongside Brienne
King in the North East,
There is no Night King in the books. So the Others getting a dragon is a big nono. In fact George wrote in Fire and Blood how Silverwing refused several times to cross the Wall. So no dragons flying north of the wall.
Jaime already choose his quest for honor over Cersei in ADWD.
Theon’s saved Jeyne Poole (fake Arya) from Ramsay.
Myrcella is still alive and is Tommen dies she becomes queen.
Cersei won’t become queen. That spot is reserved for someone whose claim threatens Dany’s. The mummer’s dragon and the mother of dragons will clash.
“George R.R. Martin… Please write, and write faster… Before you are dead, George, please write like the wind!”
(Paul and Storm)
Eonwe,
It shows I haven’t read books 4 and 5.
But fine:
* Myrcella dies. Then Tommen dies.
* Others will have their own dragon one way or another (possibly from beyond the wall or they will get one of the three dragons AFTER passing the wall) and there may yet be a Night King or similar character.
* I don’t see why Cercei couldn’t become queen (I think it makes perfect sense storywise and who else would be a significant enough antagonist if not for the one we’ve had since the story began) Who’s realistically goint to argue against her in the south.
Also, I forgot:
* Hodor dies through spooky Time-Bran
* Bran becomes three eyed raven
The books do have more ‘wild cards’ left, so to speak, but GRRM gave them his outline so I’d be surprised if it didn’t include major upcoming story points.
And if the books diverge even on these beats, then Martin either changed his mind or lied to D&D. (D&D stated multiple times they tried to stay as close to the general outline as possible, despite simplifying and cutting down on characters and storylines)
I wonder if, in the book Littlefinger is killed by Arya. I also wonder if plot holes are filled in,and Bran’s character has more dimension than the way he’s portrayed on TV.
Well we already know the Hodor thing is similar but different, as he himself has said so.
I don’t think there will ever be a Battle of the Bastards.
IF Stannis sacrifices Shireen I seriously question how this comes to be. He is hundreds of miles away from her and bogged down in a blizzard unable to move, with limited food and the horses are dying. Is he really going to send a raven to Castle Black telling Melisandre to burn his daughter alive? So I am very curious to see how that plays out.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Euron or fAegon steal Viserion and then Viserion die. I suppose it’s possible once it dies for some strange reason nobody burns it and it just sits there dead to one day be reanimated, but I have my doubts. Is it possible there’s an ice dragon beyond the wall that The Others use? I guess, but I don’t know. Personally I think a reanimated dragon is a show only thing because of how cool the VFX look and they couldn’t pass up the chance.
Jon will become King in the North though likely because of Robb’s Will. I do think Sansa and LF will be in Winterfell when this happens and you’ll see a similar political dynamic as you did in the show.
As for Cersei? I don’t know. I can see both arguments of her sitting the throne and not sitting the throne in the books. One thing I’m fairly certain on is there’s very little chance she blows up the Sept in the books. I just don’t see that happening.
There’s definitely enough there for me to remain interested in the books to see the differences if he ever gets around to finishing them.
King in the North East,
The others from the books are quite different from the show. They aren´t the henchmen of the big dark lord. The others are Martin´s version of the siddhe. The oficial artworks of the calendars and such portrays them very different from their TV series counterpart.
As for wight Viseryon. It was writen that way because the tv series needeed a way for the wall to fall and since the key element of the books for that specific purpose was omited…
As for Cersei. Her character isn´t so central in the books. Book Cersei is stupid and paranoid (amongst many things). D&D respect Lena Heady acting and they have given her a bigger role. But the pieces on the board has been moved in the books and it won´t be Cersei who sits the Iron Throne when Dany arrives to Westeros.
PS: Read them if you have the chance. You´ll start seeing how books and show diverge from that point. And I will only say one work about that DORNE.
I fell in love with the show before I knew the books existed, so while I doubtfully hope that the last two will someday be published…I’m more than happy to accept the show’s ending as canon. (Probably. Depending on what it is, maybe, I guess. ;p) And for whatever reason I’ve never liked having major differences between two “versions” of things, unless the change was a very significant improvement and made a lot of sense. So I would hope/expect that the differences between D&D’s ending and GRRM’s would be minor. If not…I’ll live. Maybe after the finale he’ll at least reveal the approximate percentage difference between it and his most likely conclusion. xD
It has always taken GRRM time between books we all know that. My concern is the extra amount this time around is that he is using the show as a dry run on his original ideas. What has worked stays, what didn’t is being rewritten. We all know when the show started George gave them the outline and the, at the time, original ending. He also gave them 4, that have been reported, major events that hadn’t been written.
All involved always said the journey will differ some, but the end will be the same. I fear George may be watching the reactions to certain events and maybe changing them in the book if they hit like say Shireen. It is his world he can do what he wants, but I hope he doesn’t fall into what D&D get accused of by so many “Fan Service”. It’s weird, but he has set himself up for that trap.
There are going to be plenty that hate the show ending and plenty that love it. I’m hoping GRRM doesn’t listen to much too the negative. I’ll finish the books of course and look forward to the differences. You can tell so much more of a story in written media, but if the ending is nothing like the shows, I’m going to have to wonder.
I hope George wouldn’t do that to D&D. This started as a partnership and they all thought he was going to stay on pace. Things happen and I get that, but to leave them, D&D, hanging completely out to the uglier side of the fandom for every book reader to say “we told you they were hacks that didn’t get it and made up the last 3 seasons” seems wrong.
I am so grateful for both. Books and movies are never the exact same, it’s tough to translate page for page to film, we expect differences. This is an unique situation because the source material is usually, if not always done. I grew up on Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings movies left a lot out, but they did a very respectable job, The Hobbit no so much, they overindulged that, but the theme was there, Just imagine Frodo keeping the ring, killing Sam, and walking into the arms of Sauron. The two endings need to match in overall tone. My worthless two cents.
I really can’t be excited about the books after we waited 8 years for TWOW. And we don’t even know how much more we are going to wait.
And then 8 or 10 years for ADOS. And there could be even 8th book.
No, just no.
I respect that he inspired my favorite show, but I don’t want to wait.
Eonwe,
But they could have a leader in the books. In fact, they need leaders, because every herd in real life has a leader. It makes no sense that any army could be leaderless.
And Viserion wasn’t used only for the Wall. He will play big role in S8. If WW have dragon in the show, they will in the books as well, otherwise battle between them and humans won’t be interesting.
And don’t act like you know GRRM’s plans for Cersei. Her on the Iron Throne is the logical culmination for her story.
Stimpy Stark,
I completely agree with your sentiment here. Also if the endings. or anything is radically different I will always have the thought at the back of my mind “Did he just change the plot because of the show”.
I think GRRM and D & D were in a lose – lose situation as soon as the show overtook the books.
I’ve got this theory – probably not original – but I think The Promise of Spring will not be such a big wait once Winter drops. My reasoning is that Mr Martin is finding Winter harder to finish because what he writes no affects Spring. He can no longer write as a gardener. He’s gotta know where he’s going. Spring will therefore need to be planned out to finish Winds, hense Mr Marin will only need to work on details and nuance.
They’ve appeared in all of about 5 pages in the books. Martin can make them space aliens later if he wants, or crab monsters.
Laura,
I also want/hope/think GRRM will end his books differently, on a commercial level why would his book publisher let him give the ending to the books to the film company it not good business on their part. So I have my fingers crossed that there are major difference between the book and TV series.
Simon,
People said the same about TWOW after ADwD.
Lord Parramandas,
I’m almost finished with Feast for Dragons (combined version look on google feast and dance combined from all leathers must be boiled)
And I have to say that I enjoyed it much more than reading them separately, some storylines feel much much better (even better than SoS for me). Dany is a big upgrade when reading them together because her story is more stretched so you don’t have the feeling, not another Mereen chapter. And reading the starks together is amazing. And especially Cercei and Tyrion who most of the times are next to each other.
Nick20,
Jon, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei and Dany are main characters I think.
Brienne is already different in the show from beginning, same as Davos from DwD. Stannis will live longer in the books I think. Dorne and Iron Island also different. Griff for instances.
But I think the major outline is the same. Jon marching south, Sansa marching north, I think that Rickon will be alive in the books and move south with Davos to winterfell. Defeat of Boltons. Defeat of Sparrows, Danny getting to Westeros. Bran and Arya getting back to winterfell. Jaime choosing Jon and Dany. Dany jon together maybe a little bit different how. Wall coming down. Lyanna Rheagar = in love = Jon = Robert the bad guy just like the show.
I think most things will be the same. Book purist like to complain a lot in my opinion. I like both, some things are better in the books some in the show.
King in the North East,
I have to agree with almost all of it, But I think Stannis will in fact be king a short time in the books (or Griff) and maybe it’s still the one from the show. But still I think it will be Griff or Stannis.
I don’t think the books will get an white walker Dragon like the show. In the books we have the Horn of Joramun that will take down the wall. And if he gets a dragon it will be after the wall is down.
I even think the wall will be sooner down in the books and we get half a book that people talk about the horror happening in the north.
And we don’t know what happen with Jaime and Brienne once he is delivered to Stoneheart. (my bad is that he will make a case that he will fight with Stoneheart to defeat her enemies, Cersei and the boltons)
Dany yes she will get the dotkraki but I think in the books it’s not because of her wits like the show but because Drogon saves the day.
King in the North East,
No book doesn’t have a Night King. No leader with the WW. I think even the origins of the WW is different in the books, but still close. I think in the books they are more a race that was before man kind and not made from man kind like the show.
About Hodor, martin confirmed that Hodor is from hold the door, but that the way he got that name is much much different in the books. (theory is that Eddard is the reason in the books)
I think Cersei will be queen in the books but very shortly, I think she get 1 or 2 chapters and then she is killed by the volanqar)
And GRRM never lied to D&D he gave them outlines yes, but he hold back a lot. Like bit Hodor=Hold the door, he hold back the reason why.
Roz’s Ghost,
I think the books will go more the route of that Sansa will outsmart him. Once she gained her power that he will provide for her (Which he think help him) she will out to the lords of the vale the truth. In the books Robert Arryn is more close to Sansa than LF so she could use that.
orange,
+1 And I think Mel and Selyse will burn Shireen to resurrect Jon. And I think Stannis will burn Theon in the books.
Shelle,
For me they both cannon, they both are brilliant in their own way. Yes the books is better than the show but still I’m happy they simplified some things, for one reason only. Time. Look at TWD that wants to portrait every single comic to the show while still dealing with actors leaving and changes. The show is a mess and needs to stop. And funny thing is, they still aren’t halfway through the source material that is planned. If D&D did that we still would be somewhere in Feast/dance story. And yes some stories would be better but overall we would be tired of the show before the end.
Stimpy Stark,
+1 about the Lord of the Rings. Jackson knew what worked on screen, and with the help of his wife (Who did the best scenes in my opinion the one with depth and emotion). And the stuff he left out he wanted in the movies but he knew it wouldn’t work on screen so he took them out.
About this story, there will be differences but I think the ending will be the same. If in the show Jon will end up king, the books will have him. if the show have dany the books have dany. etc. If the WW wins in the show they will in the books.
mau,
GRRM confirmed that the WW in the books don’t have a leader of king or something.
And I don’t think they will have a dragon from Dany. Maybe one that is hidden in the wall or one hidden in the north.
Cersei will sit on the throne I guess but will be long gone before Dany arives. Maybe the queen that is more beautiful than her is in fact Arianne in the books, that will cast Cersei down with her husband Griff.
Simon,
Didn’t he already said in the past he finished the ending already that he wrote that already. What I think is the problem is 2 things 1. He is getting older, I work with elderly people and I can tell you their minds don’t work as hard as before, especially when depressed and I think Martin is that once the show took over.
2. He stated multiple times that somethings his characters don’t do what he wants. He will always choose character building over plot. That’s a good thing, but if he wants character A to go to place B and that character has a nature to not go there, he needs to work around it.
As for gardening, he already stated that winds will not have more POV’s. The books will not get a new POV next book. But he garden so much he has a long time to pluck them all.
costello,
South park reference.
kevin1989,
Minor characters won’t remove Cersei from power. That makes no sense. Arriane, young Griff and the rest are too minor to be those who will remove Cersei, permanently. They could remove her for a time, like High Sparrow did, but the story needs this big confrontation between Cersei&Jaime and Dany&Tyrion. And Tyrion in the books(for now) hates Jaime, so that could be source of good drama.
GRRM never said that WW don’t have a leader. He only said that Night King doesn’t exist in the books. And WW need leader(s) in the books, otherwise they will be just bunch of extras no one cares about.
D&D made an iconic character with Night King. GRRM needs to do the same.
kevin1989,
And where did GRRM say that Hold the door will be much different in the books?
Have you ever read them using the boiledleather chronological order? I’ve considered giving that a shot but I rarely read books a second time, much less switch back and forth between two books every couple of chapters. 😛
Like Stimpy Stark, I, too, am grateful for both the books and the show. I have read the books multiple times. For my most recent read-through, I read the Boiled Leather version, which combines Feast for Crows and Dance with Dragons so they read chronologically rather than separating them, and yes, I feel it works much better that way. You don’t get as irritated with the Mereen storyline because you have more breaks. You also stay connected to the whole plot better. If you originally had several years between Feast and Dance, the continuity would be completely lost.
I hope GRRM lives a looooong and healthy life and gives us many more tales and characters from this amazing universe he has created. I will be happy to know the basics of how the story ends in the TV show, but that will not lessen the enjoyment of taking the more circuitous route of the books getting there (if they ever do!).
The best part of the books is that not only is Stannis still alive, but so are Barristan Selmy and SIR POUNCE!!!!!
mau,
Different between books and TV/Movies. Yes a visual story needs a villain which we can see and identify in a single person or identity. The NK is that icon in the show.
A book doesn’t need that. The treat is not a single identity it is all of them. The whole race of White Walkers. If one is done it’s up to the next to be killed. He doesn’t need to do that. In fact I hope he does not because it is a very childish way of writing a book (like for instance Harry Potter, kill Voldemort and you kill the whole enemy).
Of course the white walker have some sort of a leader it’s call the great Other. But we don’t know what it is. My bad is that he is not a white walker, and maybe not something visible like the lord of light.
And there is a reason why he still didn’t show us a leader in the books, and still after 5 books we still see them as a big treat even without a single leader.
What we know is that GRRM depicts the white walkers as “climate changed” he said that multiple times in interviews. It’s not an identity that counts but the results of them. Death and cold.
And Griff isn’t a manor character in the books. He is just as minor as Stannis is or even Joffrey (who let Ned die). We know griff is important because of Dany’s prophecy and Old Griff brought greyscale to westeros. (I call them griff because of spoilers for those who didn’t read the books). And he isn’t just going to be somebody without a story, if that was the case he wouldn’t have been introduced in the first place.
about hold the door: On his blog, I read a lot of his blog in the past, with the comments. Somebody asked if the way the show depicted hold the door was the same as the books. He stated that the words are the same but the way and the place is much different. Maybe you can find it there still it was shortly after that episode aired.
Roberta Baratheon,
Barristan Selmy is one of my favorite in the books.
mau,
I looked up on google and found not the direct link to it, but people talking about. And we are both right. GRRM confirmed the name, and half that it was time travel thing. And that he holds a door while dying to save bran, but the place is different.
I think in the books maybe he saves bran when he flee down south again and the door is that door in the night fort or something. So I was mostly wrong here.
So hodor will die the same way but not in the cave.
This is a great discussion about comparisons between the books and the show. I consider myself a book reader first. I watched the first season of the series and then read all the books before season 2 began.
I would like to add a few things where I think the books are better than the show script. This goes for the last 2 or 3 seasons because before the differences were minor:
1. The consistency and inner logic of the story telling is better in the books – you don’t have to suspend belief reading the books like you, sometimes, have to do in the show. This is all fantasy so yeah, suspending belief is always there but not within the established in-universe rules.
2. Dialogue is consistently, gritty and engaging in the books. Its quality is, in my opinion, more uneven in the show. Also, the choice of the words in the show is sometimes too contemporary for the show set in fantasy medieval times. I’m not a native English speaker so correct me if I’m wrong here. I read the books in English.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the show and I know that script is just one of the elements that contribute to its quality, but books remain my head canon.
Eonwe,
Don’t even joke about that, man! I love both ASoIaF and Berserk and I’m terrified that this might even be a reality one day.
I’ve got to be honest I’m disappointed GRRM has not read the scripts or provided some inputs. D&D have consistently said it’s his ending and we know GRRM gave them a detailed outline for all the major characters but this interview confirms the fates of minor characters D&D had to make up.
What is the next big milestone Jack? I presume it’s the premiere title which we will get a week or maybe two before the red carpet premiere on 3rd April so that can’t be too far away now. Then we will get the press reviews and episode synopsis.
I highly doubt we will get a 2nd trailer this time around, more or less confirmed by Nikolaj and also Luka from Watchers.
Joking or serious? I thought Stannis was on the verge of death long before the show confirmed it. He’s in a terrible spot at the end of ADWD and I doubt he lasts past the early part of Winds.
I would be absolutely gob smacked if Cersei does not become Queen.
Serious and if you look online many things the same. If you read the end of DwD you know Asha just reunited with Theon. Huge chances that Stannis will capture them again and use them both as sacrifice to the lord of Light, clearing the passage to winterfell.
Even Tycho from the Iron bank is on his way to Stannis with an offering.
I’m not saying Stannis will win but this mess he is in will be resolved by the sacrafice he is going to do. And if Stannis in fact looses I think Volanqar is Griff, and Dany needs to defeat Griff, the mummers farce.
Fair enough, we all have opinions and there is no reason why you cannot be correct. My take (and I held it as the popular opinion) was that Stannis is in a bad place with his men starving and struggling with the weather. At the same time the Freys (and Boltons?) are closing in on him, he’s desperate and not long for the world.
The burning of Shireen has been held up as the reason he will escape but I have a feeling Mel will burn her at Castle black possible in an attempt to remotely save Stannis but instead it brings back Jon.
Young Griff I feel will be dead early Winds of Winter, he’s another red herring or obstacle for Dany/Cersei to confront.
Hmmm. This is intriguing, but it would mean that Jon gets brought back by “dark” magic—negating the very title of the Lord of Light—and serve only to reinforce Mel’s ruthlessly mathematical view of life. In the show, her character is fundamentally changed by the fact that the Lord’s power worked through positive human emotions (love, grief), and not through the sacrifice of innocent lives. Resurrecting Jon through Shireen’s death would merely reinforce her belief that the Lord of Light demands the blood of infidels and nobles.
Honestly, I’m with Mau on this. I like what GRRM wrote in the first three books, but AFFC and ADWD were slow, meandering and uninteresting. People talk about the Broken Man speech, and I can’t even remember it. Heck, when I moved, I gave AFFC away because it held no interest for me. While D&D could have saved themselves some headaches by having Arianne Martell and pushing the Sand Snakes to the side, there was almost nothing else that the last two books did that Season 5 didn’t do as well.
Fully agree with you. Whilst I enjoyed the world building aspect of ADWD/AFFC the pacing was terribly slow versus what had came before and would have made terrible TV. The fact that D&D trimmed so much fat yet still covered almost everything – with some minor spillage into S6 is a great feat. It doesn’t mean S5 of the show was without fault but cutting some of the stuff they did made a lot of sense.
Thinking of ADWD what was the point of Quentyn Martell being a POV? I suspect it will have some pay off but what a waste of a story line that just didn’t feel necessary.
Brace yourself, gather up your trolls and your soldier elves…
The episode titles for the first 3 episodes of Season 7 were announced on July 7th, 2017. That was 5 days before the Red Carpet premiere on the 12th. So possibly some episode titles at the very end of the month. Gotta think there’s something else in between now and then. Maybe a second wave of production stills and/or an official season poster. Unless they just use one of the character posters as the season poster.
As for a second trailer, not entirely sure. If there is one, I don’t think it’ll be until early April. Just a little before premiere. Maybe a mash up of some clips from the first trailer with a little bit of new footage. I think Nikolaj could have just had his wording mixed up and meant “final season trailer” and not “final trailer”.
Or the proponents of the Jojen Stew Hypothesis have been correct for the last 8 years!
That actually was part of the story: it was another case of “kill the child, let the adult be born.” However, that phoenix never rose from the ashes. Moreover, the overarching story didn’t need this case: Quentyn was a one-story protagonist, and Martin would have better invested his time trimming the unnecessary hiccups in Tyrion’s, Jon’s & Daenerys’ narratives.
I think the overall story will be the same with some change for the minor characters like he said. But, is Brienne or Davos minor characters with or not? It is obvious that Dany will be in westoro with her team at some point ( not sure if it will be In the next book) tyrion will be her hand and she and jon will fell for each other and become ally. Not sure about Queen cersei I can see the faegon be on the the throne but Stannis will die and his daughter will burn. The real main characters age jon, Dany, tyrion, Bran and arya grrm does now add Sansa too, that the one that will live until near the end. J’aime in cersei are more secondary characters but I do hope that their faith are also known by D. and D. I do consider jaime to be on team jon and Dany but wanting to keeping his promise not sure if it will happen in the book maybe his story will be more with brienne same for sansa I think for the next book her story will be in the Vale. At some point arya will be Back in westoro, no idea when? Dany will have someking of dance with dragon with faegon in the next book not show on tv.