George R.R. Martin Says He Has ‘Mixed Feelings’ About the End of Game of Thrones

Watching your masterpiece come to an end must be difficult thing to process. What does one do after closing the chapter on such an important part of your life? In the case of A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin, you write more books. But that doesn't mean that the bestselling novelist isn't lamenting the conclusion of Game of Thrones. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Martin admitted that he has "mixed feelings" about it all.

"It’s been an incredible ride," the author said. "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."

The reason the television show's narrative has gone ahead of Martin is because he has been working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the series, for the past eight years—and it still doesn't have a release date in sight. On top of that, there is also supposed to be a seventh book called A Dream of Spring to follow.

Apparently, Martin has told Game of Thrones showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff how he thinks he wants his series to end, but no one can know for sure yet how much the television series will end up differing from the book series.

“[The concern] used to be that the books would spoil the show for people—and luckily it did not for the most part,” Benioff told Entertainment Weekly. “Now that the show is ahead of the books, it seems the show could ruin the books for people. So one thing we’ve talked to George about is that we’re not going to tell people what the differences are, so when those books come out people can experience them fresh.”

So while Game of Thrones will be coming to an end in May, it will definitely not be the end for the world of Westeros, as fans should expect to see two more books ... eventually.

“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.”

[h/t: Entertainment Weekly]