By George

Author George R.R. Martin reflects on the final season (and what it means for his books).

- James Hibberd

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN’S MASTERWORK fantasy saga is set to reveal its epic conclusion on HBO, and not on the printed page where he launched his tale 23 years ago. Naturally, Martin has “mixed feelings about that.”

“It’s been an incredible ride,” the author, 70, says. “And almost all of it has been great. Obviously, I wish I’d finished these books sooner so the show hadn’t gotten ahead of me. I never anticipated that.”

Martin has famously struggled for eight years and counting to finish the sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, with no publication date set. There’s also a planned seventh novel, A Dream of Spring. On paper, the sprawling epic, detailing a clash of kingdoms in Westeros and Essos, halted in 2011’s A Dance With Dragons with the cliff-hanger murder of Jon Snow—a twist that capped the show’s season 5 finale in 2015.