In the midst of fan backlash over the last season of Game of Thrones, spare a thought for George R.R. Martin. Of course, it was his lengthy tomes which formed the basis for HBO to make millions and create a cultural behemoth, the likes of which the world had never seen.
But on the other hand, the fact that the show eventually deviated from his books (probably because he couldn't quite write them at the pace they were being filmed) leaves the author with a bit of a challenge. How exactly does he go up against the legacy of the HBO fantasy epic?
Every book he writes now will be inevitably compared to the corresponding events of Game of Thrones, but if one of the primary characters from the show is correct, his ending might be pretty similar.
Of course, one of the stronger reactions to the finale of Game of Thrones came from the decision to make Bran King of the Six Kingdoms - but the actor who plays him might have inadvertently given away the ending to George R R Martin's books.
Here's that weird moment once again:Isaac Hempstead Wright, he of the thousand-yard stare and the monotone line reading, has given an insight into what it was like to be the person at the centre of the now-infamous twist, admitting the decision to make him Bran the Broken was not something cooked up by showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff.
Wright didn't initially believe that Bran would be crowned king. "I had to physically get up and walk around my flat," he said in an interview with HBO. "I said, 'What?! You’re joking.' It was the very last thing I expected to happen. I was convinced they had sent a script to everyone in which they become king or queen, so I still didn’t believe it until the read-through."
But eventually, Wright came around and revealed (accidentally) that George R.R. Martin had always planned for Bran to be king. Albeit probably with a bit more setup...
"[Creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] told me there were two things [author] George RR Martin had planned for Bran, and that was the Hodor revelation, and that he would be king," said Wright.
This is the Hodor revelation he's referring to, by the way:"So that's pretty special to be directly involved in something that is part of George's vision. It was a really nice way to wrap it up," the actor concluded.
So, for those of you waiting for George R R Martin's books to remove the bitter taste of Game of Thrones from your mouth: spoiler alert.