Well, we knew it was coming – but no one could have guessed it’d be quite this early: the Game of Thrones Season 5 trailer has arrived!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMKhdDlKHNE&utm
Savvy fans will quickly see that the long-expected departure from the books has begun.
**SPOILERS FOR BOOK 4/5 follow**
Without giving too much away it looks like the Aegon storyline won’t be used… No Euron or Victarion Greyjoy… Lady Stoneheart looks to be replaced by Sansa being pushed along by Littlefinger… It also looks like Arianne Martell will be excluded. That’s quite a few holes to fill or skip over gracefully. The screen capture to your right suggests the person Varys suggests Tyrion back is indeed Dany. Well, we’ll find out more April 12th (US) / 13th (UK) 2015!!!
**SPOILERS FOR BOOK 4/5 end**
The other piece of news that hit today was that Winds of Winter won’t hit stores in 2015. In an interview with The Guardian, Martin’s Editor (and Fantasy-Faction’s friend) Jane Johnson said that the next novel in the Song of Ice & Fire series that has been filmed by HBO as A Game of Thrones, is not in this year’s release schedule. “I have no information on likely delivery,” she said. “These are increasingly complex books and require immense amounts of concentration to write. Fans really ought to appreciate that the length of these monsters is equivalent to two or three novels by other writers.”
Realistically, George R.R. Martin took five years between book 3 and 4 and then six years between book 4 and 5. If the trend continues we’d be looking at 2018. The TV series, we presume, would be finished by then. A Song of Ice & Fire fans won’t go empty handed though. Out this October will be a compilation of the three prequel novellas set in Westeros: The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight. This collector’s edition will feature exclusive illustrations. We talked a bit about it here.
I guess the departure from the books is sad, but it also means that fans will be able to enjoy the television show and books as two separate entities. As much as we LOVE the television show, if the show stayed true to the books wholly and spoilt the conclusion and journey of the plot-threads for future books I think there would end up being a lot of angry fans.
