Nearly three decades ago, George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Later this year, HBO will wrap the Game of Thrones TV series after eight seasons. Surprisingly, Martin hasn’t made a cameo appearance in his most famous creation. But that wasn’t because the creators of the show didn’t want him.
Via io9, Martin told Entertainment Weekly that “[Executive producers] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] invited me to a cameo in one of the final episodes, which I was tempted to do. But I didn’t think just for the sake of a cameo I could take the time to return to Belfast.”
Instead, Martin opted not to go in order to focus on writing The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series.
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Martin also told EW that he filmed a cameo all the way back in the first pilot for Game of Thrones. However, that footage was ultimately not used in the final pilot.
“There was a cameo in the original pilot that was cut,” said Martin. “I was a guest at Dany’s wedding. But that was when she was played by Tamzin Merchant so all that footage got thrown out when we recast with Emilia Clarke.”
Regardless, Martin isn’t out of chances to appear in Westeros. The Game of Thrones prequel series will begin production later this year, and HBO is likely to push it for a multi-season run.
Do you agree with Martin’s decision to sit out of the final season of Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comment section below!
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