'Game of Thrones' Boss Says Show Will Spoil the Ending to the Books

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HBO

If you're a fan of the Game of Thrones book series, it looks like you might have to stop watching HBO's adaptation unless you want the story's big ending spoiled.

As it turns out, the network doesn't have time to let author George R. R. Martin write the books before shooting the show, so they're going to have to forge ahead before the writer has penned the last of his massive tomes.

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Speaking to an audience at Oxford University, a Game of Thrones executive producer said that the show will not only wrap up before all the books are released but, with guidance from Martin, the show will also end the same way.

"We know where things are heading," said GoT executive producer David Benioff. "We will eventually meet up at pretty much the same place that George is going. There might be some deviations along the route, but we're heading toward the same destination."

While this is good news for the fans who haven’t had the time to read the five books printed thus far, which come in at a staggering 4,228 pages total, fans of both the books and television show are going to be at a loss, and are likely going to have to choose which to stick with if they don't want to spoil the books they've invested so much time in.

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Martin, who published the first book in 1996, is currently working on the sixth novel in the series, which will be followed by the seventh and final installment at some presumably distant point in the future.

"I wish there were some things we didn't have to spoil," Benioff admitted. "We are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place… We were hoping the books would come out ahead of the show, but at the same time, George has his process, and if it takes him 20 years to finish the series, that's what it should take him."

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That being said, Benioff was quick to point out that the books and the show have veered apart in certain aspects before, and so there's a chance the books could still provide many surprises for readers, independent of what happens on the show.

Season five of Game of Thrones begins April 12 on HBO.

One thing the show doesn't skimp on is the gore. Check out the video below for a look at star Alfie Allen's five favorite bloody moments from GoT.

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