Game of Thrones story editor Bryan Cogman talks about his new book Inside Game of Thrones and season 3 in a new interview.

Inside Game of Thrones, which is in bookstores now, is in Cogman’s words, a “Part making of, part guide to the mythos of Game of Thrones, and part just a beautiful display of some of the artwork.”

Speaking to MTV about the project, Cogman also talks about the huge mythology of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and how they balance that with the HBO series, saying, “Ultimately, you try to honor the mythology of the books, and they’re our primary resource. At the same time, it’s important that we recognize there are two universes. They have their own separate continuities, their own separate mythologies… And their own separate rules. While I certainly think we’re faithful to the book, we’ve had to make it our own.”

He also talks about how great it is to have the books as their guide. “We know where we’re going in season four, in season five,” he says. “A lot of shows don’t have that luxury. We have a wonderful structure that George [R.R. Martin] has laid out in the books that we can always connect, and go back to.”

On season 3, Cogman teases, “season three – maybe because book three is this way – it’s an emotionally rich season. Not that the first two weren’t, but I think we really dig deeper into the characters this year, and learn more about that, and learn some surprising things about some of them.” What that leads to, he explains, is “an emotionally riskier season. Where the last season built up to the big battle episode, this explores the family dynamic in a really rich way.”

Game of Thrones returns next year on March 31!