HBO's hit TV series, "Game of Thrones," has finally reached its fifth season. But fans are worried they would have to wait a little bit longer before it hit the screens. Word is out that the sixth book from the fantasy series written by George R.R. Martin, "Winds of Winter" is coming out next year.
The show is based on Martin's "A Song Of Ice And Fire" novel. The fifth season particularly, would be getting a lot of its scenes from the author's sixth book, which is due next year, reported IB Times.
Now with the date of the sixth book pushed back, it might pose a problem to the show's producers, specifically with regards to the Bran Stark and Hodor storyline.
The journey of Bran and Hodor covered only three chapters in the fifth book, "A Dance With Dragon" and more about them is expected in the upcoming sixth novel. But most of the material from the fifth book about Bran has already been explored in the show's season 4.
Now, concerns have arisen that there may be insufficient storyline for their characters to be covered in the next season with the delay of "Winds of Winter."
Fans of the TV series and Martin's novels have been waiting patiently for any announcement of the sixth book's release. But Martin seems to be taking a long time to finish it.
Headlines & Global News reported that according to the author, "Writer's block isn't to blame here, it's distraction. In recent years, all of the work I've been doing creates problems because it creates distraction."
Martin attributes the slow pace in his writing to other commitments. "Because the books and the show are so popular I have interviews to do constantly. I have travel plans constantly. It's like suddenly I get invited to travel to South Africa or Dubai, and who's passing up a free trip to Dubai?"
The American novelist also said that he has to be in his "own house undisturbed to write." Because of the other things keeping him from writing, he now has "assistants and minions whose main job is to make sure people don't bother [him] so [he] can actually get to writing."
While the tentative release date of the sixth novel is in 2016, there remains a possibility that it could come out in 2017 too, noted Master Herald.
The storyline of Bran and Hodor may be scrapped for the fifth season as producers wait for the sixth novel. Instead, other characters such as Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister and Arya Stark would probably take center stage.
Christian Today also reported that most of the fifth season's storylines would stay clear of the books.
"Game of Thrones" season 5 will return to television in April 2015.
