Whether author George R.R Martin releases his next book anytime soon, HBO is assuring Game of Thrones fans that the show will go on.
According to The New York Daily News, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo said this weekend that the network is "not concerned" about the idea of Martin not releasing another book by the end of next season.
"After next year, we will have to figure it out with George if his book's not finished," he said. "But we're in conversations with him."
Fans of the HBO series, as well as the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, have expressed concern about the pace at which the TV show is catching up with the book material.
As of the most recent season, the show has adapted roughly until the end of Book 3, A Storm of Swords, but has already dipped into some content from the following two books, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons.
Though there's been no official word about how the show will lay out the remaining books, given the recent pace of the show, it's likely that by the end of next season, a large percentage of what has been published will have been adapted on screen.
However, this assurance from HBO, as well as word from The Hollywood Reporter that show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss went through the end of the series with Martin, suggest that the Game of Thrones creators feel confident concluding the series without relying as strictly on Martin's work in the future.
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