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George R. R. Martin asked HBO's CEO for 10 seasons and 100 episodes of Game of Thrones, according to a new book.
"George would fly to New York to have lunch with [former HBO CEO Richard] Plepler, to beg him to do 10 seasons of 10 episodes because there was enough material for it and to tell him it would be a more satisfying and more entertaining experience," Martin's agent, Paul Haas, is quoted in James Andrew Miller's Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, as reported by Insider.
"Dan [Weiss] and Dave [Benioff, showrunners] were tired, rightfully so," Haas said. "They were done, and wanted to move on, so they cut it short and then negotiations became, how many seasons can we stretch this out? Because of course HBO wanted more."
Game of Thrones ended with season 8, which was a shorter length than previous seasons – as was season 7. Martin has said before that he'd have preferred the series to be longer, telling Variety back in 2018 that it could have "gone to 11, 12, 13 seasons."
Haas also told Miller that Martin was concerned about the series once it started diverging from his plans from season 5 onwards: "George loves Dan [Weiss] and Dave [Benioff, showrunners], but after season 5 he did start to worry about the path they were [going down] because George knows where the story goes," he said. "He started saying, 'You're not following my template.' The first 5 seasons stuck to George's roadmap. Then they went off George's roadmap."
Though Game of Thrones has ended, HBO will be taking us back to Westeros in the upcoming prequel House of the Dragon, due for release in 2022. As for Martin's books, the Song of Ice and Fire series is still unfinished.
