Former Skyrim lead turned novelist Bruce Nesmith has some rather contrarian advice for Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who has repeatedly admitted to struggling with finishing his A Song of Ice and Fire series: Just throw in the towel, man.
Having previously served as lead designer on Skyrim, Nesmith left Bethesda Game Studios and the video game industry as a whole in 2021, after which he turned to writing novels. He’s since published three books in the Loki Redeemed series as well as a three-book LitRPG series, Glory Seeker. With this considerable experience in fantasy novel writing, Nesmith commented on Martin’s dilemma in a recent interview with Press Box PR.
“George gave his story to somebody else and they ran with it and they did an amazing job with it,” said Nesmith, referring to HBO’s eight-season TV adaptation, Game of Thrones. “I think he’d be wise to say they finished my work and now I want to do something new. Getting the work finished, for me at least, would have precedence over the fact that I had to personally do it.
Fans of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire have been anxiously waiting for the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, for some 15 years. Martin, 77, has been increasingly candid in recent years about his struggles finishing the next book and series, which is supposed to wrap up with a final entry, A Dream of Spring. HBO’s adaptation, while extremely well-received in its first few seasons, famously fumbled the ending at right about the point it diverged from Martin’s novels because there was no more source work to draw from. To say HBO did “an amazing job” with its adaptation overall is certainly a take.
If anything, the historic failure of HBO’s Game of Thrones is even more of a reason for Martin to correct the record and give the world his original vision for the finale of what has been, so far, a masterclass in high fantasy writing. In my opinion, it would be the best and only way to respond to critics of the show and say, basically, ‘Don’t look at me. This is my story.’ But that’s just me.
As for Nesmith, he’s just happy to be able to say he’s completed his series, even if he’d happily accept an offer from HBO. “I don’t want to go down George’s path unless somebody wants to offer me an HBO deal for my stories, in which I’d be glad to let [Game of Thrones showrunner] David Benioff finish it for me.”
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