On Oct. 13 at his Capclave 2013 "Not a Panel," George R. R. Martin hinted to "Game of Thrones" fans what we will and won't be seeing on the show and the way that season 4 will differ from the second half of the third book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, "A Storm of Swords."
WinterIsComing.net shares some of Martin's statements made during the panel via Capclave, in which the medieval fantasy series author confirmed that there is a "week left of filming" for season 4, while other sources claim there is still a month left of filming to be done. WinterIsComing.net speculates that Martin was given faulty information.
However, it has been verified by Martin that season 4 will pull from beyond the second half of "A Storm of Swords," as the adaptation of his series strives to include as much content from the lengthy books as possible in its 10-episodes-per-season format.
At the panel, Martin brought up the issue of the "butterfly effect," and how show-runners have deleted several characters from his massive cast to allow for a tighter script. Two of these include older Tyrell sons, Willas and Garlan, who are not present in the show but will soon become important in the books.
Other changes that may have repercussions further down the road include the maiming and tongue removal of Marillion. The writers had Joffrey orchestrate this brutal punishment on a familiar character for the audience to recognize and be doubly disgusted by instead of an anonymous player that was mutilated in the books.
Martin believes this may be an issue as in the books, the singer plays a role in Sansa's storyline that he does not think any other character can fulfill, but now that he has been quieted, the producers will no longer be able to use him.
At this point, however, Martin pointed out that show creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff are the runners of the HBO series, while he is only in charge of his books, and thus leaves the major decisions up to them despite his concerns.
He also does not have any worries about the series passing the point in his writing of the source material, as he has yet to complete the book series that he began in 1991. He also mentioned that his upcoming book, "The Wit & Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister," does not take away from him completing "The Winds of Winter," the forthcoming sixth book in the series.
Though no prequels will be written, Martin plans on giving more details of Robert's Rebellion in the upcoming novels.
