Why series 5 of Game of Thrones got it wrong and why I won't be watching it..

After giving this much thought, I've finally worked out why the new series of Game of Thrones is bugging me so much.

It's not so much the deviations from the plot of the books. I'm very much a purist when it comes to these kinds of things, but I've studied the art of screen adaptation so I know why some things need to be changed. What's bugging me is the lack of respect which they're showing in their approach to season five.

It has been known for a long time that the books were likely to be overtaken by the show at some point. Given that George RR Martin is hoping to finish the Winds of Winter this year, most fans assumed the overtaking of the books would not happen for another 2 or 3 years, considering the show still had A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons to cover.

And then season five aired.

It appears the producers have decided to up the pacing dramatically. They've gone from adapting one book across two seasons in the last two years, to condensing two huge books into one season this year, stripping away all but the most basic of storylines from each book to make them fit tidily into one season. It seems to me there can only be one explanation for this: Benioff and Weiss want to be the first to reveal what happens in Winds of Winter.

In my opinion this shows the deepest disrespect to the man who is the reason behind the shows success. Without Martin, there wouldn't be a show to watch. He created the universe they're working in and is still creating it. He should be the one to reveal new material and resolve the cliffhangers left from DwD, not have the show barge past him in an attempt to grab headlines and ratings.

This isn't a necessary decision brought on by running out of material. There is absolutely no reason I can think of why more material could not have been included from the most recent books beyond the urge to pull ahead. Anybody who's read A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons knows that there's more than enough material to make a hugely entertaining pair of seasons to see viewers through the next two years. Instead the producers have chosen to gut both books of their juiciest material, stripping down what little they did leave behind to become the blandest possible retelling of events. Where's the Ironborn storyline and our introduction to that magnificent bastard who is Euron Crows-Eye? Where's John Connington? Where's the world gearing up to make war on Dany? All this would have been brilliant to watch, but it's all been done away with in their determination to bring plot spoilers of the Winds of Winter to the public first. It's completely disrespectful to the author and uncalled for. They had the opportunity to give GRRM another year to get the next book out, but instead chose not to.

It is for this reason I will not be watching beyond episode 8 of the latest series until after the Winds of Winter has been released. I urge anybody who loves the books and GRRM to do the same. Show your respect and support by letting GRRM tell you the next stage of the story when he's ready, not when a HBO executive decides that they want pull in more viewers.