American author George R.R. Martin rubbished "absurd" rumours about intentionally delaying publication of final two books of 'Game Of Thrones', till the television series ends.
Multiple media outlets reported that actor Ian McElhinney, who played the role of Ser Barristan Selmy on the popular series 'Game Of Thrones' until season 5, told a fan convention that Martin has actually finished writing the books 'The Winds of Winter' and 'A Dream of Spring' but had struck an agreement with 'GOT' showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss to not publish the books until the show was complete.
"George has already written Books 6 and 7, and as far as he's concerned there only are seven books. But he struck an agreement with David and Dan, the showrunners on the series, that he would not publish the final two books until the series has completed," the actor was quoted as saying by Entertainment Weekly.
"So if all goes well, in another month or two we might get Books 6 and 7, and I'm intrigued to know how Barristan, for instance, ends up going through those final two books. George, I talked to him during Season 1 and he did say to me that Barristan had a very interesting journey. But unfortunately, I didn't get to play all of that, so we'll have to wait and see," McElhinney added.
Martin, however, recently shot down this rumour on his personal website.
He wrote on his blog: "No, THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING are not finished. DREAM is not even begun, I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six. It seems absurd to me that I need to state this. The world is round, the Earth revolves around the sun, water is wet... do I need to say that too? It boggles me that anyone would believe this story, even for an instant."
"It makes not a whit of sense. Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers -- not just here in the US, but all around the world -- ever consent to this? They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice and Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense. Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books. So... no, the books are not done," he continued.
He then outright went on to deny that HBO had offered him any deal to delay the books.
He stated, "HBO did not ask me to delay them. Nor did David and Dan. There is no 'deal' to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David and Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if THE WINDS OF WINTER had been delivered and published four or five years ago... and NO ONE would have been more delighted than me."
McElhinney was a bit disappointed with his character's ending. He expressed his dissatisfaction in his interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2015.
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