The Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman, who executive produces the wildly successful AMC adaptation of the same name, thinks George R.R. Martin shouldn’t have let HBO get ahead of his story.
Speaking with Rolling Stone this week, Kirkman said that he’s “disappointed” in Martin. “I would never do that,” he said when he was asked if AMC could ever surpass The Walking Dead comics. “That’s the one thing I’m disappointed in George R.R. Martin for doing. He should have just been like, F*** you. You make it up now, I’ll get to mine when I’m ready.”
It’s not clear what Kirkman means by telling HBO to “make it up.” Come up with a different story to tell until Martin publishes his? If that were the case, it would be hard for the additional story HBO “made up” to sync back up with the Song of Ice and Fire writer’s books, unless they just never returned to the books for source material.
We know that George R.R. Martin has told Game of Thrones‘ showrunners the general direction of where the story is going, which may be the decision that Kirkman is referring to. Only time will tell just how far off the show decides to divert from the books.
Still, it was pretty ballsy of Kirkman to share these feelings about HBO and Martin’s handling of Game of Thrones. Shouldn’t creators run their material however they see fit? Moreover, Kirkman was in a lucky position when he teamed up with AMC — 72 issues of The Walking Dead comic series already existed before the TV show premiered.
Martin admitted on January 2 that he had took serious stabs at getting Winds of Winter published before HBO premiered Game of Thrones season 6, but he just couldn’t get it done. “You’re disappointed, and you’re not alone,” he said. “My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed… but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, ‘I have completed and delivered THE WINDS OF WINTER’ on or before the last day of 2015.”
Even if he was able to do it in time, HBO would’ve definitely surpassed him with season 7.
Speaking of completing a story, Kirkman was asked by Rolling Stone if he has an ending in mind for The Walking Dead. “For the books? I do. I know how the story wraps up. The big question is when and how far in the distance that is. But I think that most people think, oh, why would he end it? It’s so successful, he’s going to keep throwing s*** at the wall to keep it going. And that’s not going to happen. You’ll eventually be able to see that it all kind of comes together.”
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