Yes, GRRM is not my bitch. I will admit to being frustrated with all the things not the core series that he has been writing, but I would NEVER suggest that my frustration means that he should bend to my will (nor would I ever express it to him). I'm confident that 6 will come out before they get there with the show. I'm less sure about 7.
I hope that the series doesn't catch up to the books not least because I want to read it first. If they go to the prequel content (Dunk and Egg, I assume) as a stop-gap, then that makes it REALLY hard to finish, especially with the kids in the cast. I do think that they could easily take the next two books (which are concurrent) and make them at least 3 seasons. I think that, if they do catch up, then I'm sure George will have a lot of input on how things pan out on the show, as he's quite involved.
not have to be finished by another in case he dies before finishing it
Is he not well? He's not that old, is he?
Robert Jordan made everyone panicky, and he was 58. GRRM is 68 and seems to be in fine health.
That would be weird, if the show caught up to the books. I'd be interested to see how that played out, I think. Not that I'm hoping for it, but it would be interesting.
I think it would be interesting, too. It would be an odd experience to watch the show before reading the books, for me.
I like the rambling in the latest books but I think the show would be insane to expand the books into more than an average of one book/season, as there are lots of trimmings that need to be trum for TV. And I don't think the HBO people want to do that; they seem pretty set on 7 seasons for 7 books and 7 gods and 7 kingdoms and so forth.
The old gods have no need of such numerological claptrap.
The Lord of Light is one god for one series.
ha! I do not have GRMM in my closet. Yeah, I am fascinated by the passion of some people regarding GOT, but perhaps I would identify with it if I were a fan of the books.
What would I have done if JK Rowling hadn't finished HP series for some reason?
The recent Vanity Fair cover story on Game Of Thrones addressed the issue.
The showrunners have made it explicit that (a) it won't go past 7 (mayyyyybeee 8) seasons; and (b) Martin has given then the outline for every character's story and they will simply write out the series if he's late with the books. Mainly because their child actors will age out, and nobody wants Arya Mark 2.
eta:
The actor who plans Bran is 14 now and getting HUGE. Which is particularly problematic for his character as Hodor has to lug him about.
The showrunners have made it explicit that (a) it won't go past 7 (mayyyyybeee 8) seasons
I've read the same thing, and I have no earthly idea how it's going to be possible since they've already split book 3 into two seasons. It's not like the books are getting any shorter.
(Maybe they've already been told that book 7 has only 3 characters in it because everyone else is dead, and are planning to condense that into the 2-hour finale.)