HBO's "Game of Thrones" isn't just a popular television series, it's a cultural phenomenon. The show's appeal is so strong that it has even inspired hundreds of thousands of viewers to pick up the dense source material: George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels.
But not everyone is able to enjoy the books like us fans. Actor Iain Glen, who plays Jorah Mormont, recently spoke to Radio Times about his knowledge of the books and revealed an interesting tid bit.
"I don't read the books. I read the first one when they gave me the job, just to get a feel from it and a synopsis breakdown of what was going to happen to the character. But beyond that, the writers themselves, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], they didn't particularly want actors coming to the scripts from the book, always suggesting what the book did and how it was different....They were quite happy for us to move forward and treat them as screenplays with no history, so that's the reason why I only ever read the first novel."
The showrunners have made a handful of changes to Martin's source material over the course of the series' five year run thus far. Usually, these changes are made to further condense what is a sprawling and complicated plot and cast of characters. In addition, "Game of Thrones" actually advanced past certain storylines in the books during season five. Martin has published five of the planned seven novels in his series, but "Game of Thrones" does not have the luxury of time on its hands and continues to push forward. As a result, it's understandable why the showrunners wouldn't want the actors to get bogged down in the specifics of the books. The two series stand on their own as opposed to the show being a direct, word-for-word adaptation of the books.
Glen doesn't seem to mind this though. He just has one hope for the future of the show.
"I just want Jorah to be there when Daenerys finally succeeds in the end, and sits on the Iron Throne. I'd like to be beside her."
"Game of Thrones" season six will debut on HBO in Spring of 2016. "The Winds of Winter" is expected to be published around the same time.
