It's safe to say that the final season of HBO's Game of Thrones was divisive – in fact, that would be an understatement.
And in a recent interview with magazine Fast Company, the franchise creator George RR Martin has given his thoughts on the differences between his books and the show, and how season eight wasn't "completely faithful".
Speaking about what can be lost in a book-to-screen adaptation, the author admitted: "It can be… traumatic.
"Because sometimes their creative vision and your creative vision don't match, and you get the famous creative differences thing – that leads to a lot of conflict."
On his experiences in Hollywood, he continued: "You get totally extraneous things like the studio or the network weighing in, and they have some particular thing that has nothing to do with story, but relates to 'Well this character has a very high Q Rating so let's give him a lot more stuff to do'."
And speaking more specifically about Game of Thrones, he said: "The [final] series has been... not completely faithful. Otherwise, it would have to run another five seasons."
The topic of the last season of Game of Thrones feeling rushed is something the writer has spoken about before.
Earlier this year, he wrote on his blog: "I am working in a very different medium than [showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], never forget. They had six hours for this final season.
"I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I'm done... and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I'll add them."
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Game of Thrones aired on HBO in the US, and you can also catch up on the show via Hulu. Viewers in the UK can catch up via Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
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