The reason the twist can't be done on the HBO series is that because it involves a character who's dead on the show but not dead in the books, says author George R.R. Martin.
- February 26, 2016
AceShowbiz -
George R. R. Martin's big twist in his new "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel won't be seen on HBO's "Game of Thrones". The author has opened up that he prepares a mysterious plot development in "The Winds of Winter" that can't be replicated on the show.
Martin had teased the idea last year, but he wasn't sure if he was going to include it in the book or not. "I have decided to do that, yes," he said in a new interview with IGN. "Will you know it? I don't know," he coyly said.
The reason that the big twist couldn't be seen on the show is "because it is something that involves a couple of characters, one of whom is dead on the show, but not dead in the books." He explained, "So the show can't do it, because they have killed a character I have not killed. But that doesn't narrow it down much because at this point there are like 15 characters who are dead on the show who are still alive on the books."
Martin told EW last March, "It's a great twist. It's easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it's just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen. And with the various three, four characters involved ... it all makes sense. But it's nothing I've ever thought of before. And it's nothing they can do in the show, because the show has already - on this particular character - made a couple decisions that will preclude it, where in my case I have not made those decisions."
The TV series has caught up with Martin's writing, but the author has talked with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss about how the story would end.
The sixth season of "Game of Thrones" premieres April 24 on HBO.
