George RR Martin Isn’t Fussed That HBO Keeps Leaking ‘Game Of Thrones’

Game of Thrones has recently been besieged by episodes leaking early, first as a result of a major HBO hack, and later thanks to HBO Spain accidentally airing episode six some five days early.

But the man without whose mind we wouldn’t have any of this, George RR Martin, doesn’t seem to be too bothered.

The author of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire‘ is in Russia right now, as the honorary guest of the St. Petersburg Fantasy Festival. And as well as refusing to be drawn into questions about Vladimir Putin or answer anything about potential spoilers, he did say that he doesn’t really give a shit if hackers leak the scripts.

Q: If the hackers will publish the script of season 7 will there any be influence on your work or on the tv series?

GRRM: “There certainly won’t be any influence on my work. I’m writing the books and while I’m involved with the TV series it’s the books that are my main concern. It’s sort of amusing that people would be in a big panic about the scripts being leaked before the show has come out considering that for the first entire five seasons my books were out and anyone could read my novels and find out what was going to happen. Just knowing something is going to happen is not the same as experiencing it and enjoying it. It’s nice to keep your mysteries and plot turns pristine but I think great works of art whether television show or novel or film does not rely entirely on plot development. There is a richness and depth that goes beyond that. That’s why the great works of art are things that you can revisit even though you know what is going to happen, you can watch and read them again going back time and time. I can enjoy reading War and Peace even though I know Napoleon lost.”

Shout-out to this Redditor for transcribing large chunks of the interview.

Yet in a separate report, Martin does seem to express dismay that because the show is now far ahead of the books, there will inevitably be some spoilers.

There have been spoilers because the series are ahead of the books. Would I rather it did not happen? Yes. But that is my own fault. In some sense, the fans of the TV series have been saying for years that my books have spoiled the series. Everybody who has read my books knew everything that was coming for five years, so now the shoe is on the other foot.”

There’s a simple solution here, George: write. faster.

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