George R.R. Martin says his A Song of Ice and Fire ending won't be as "happy" as the HBO show's, and it's especially bad news for Tyrion and Sansa fans

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George R.R. Martin says his A Song of Ice and Fire ending won't be as "happy" as the HBO show's, and it's especially bad news for Tyrion and Sansa fans News By Amy West published 15 January 2026

Daenerys enthusiasts may wind up preferring the books' conclusion over Game of Thrones's, though...

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Ask almost any Game of Thrones fan, and they'll tell you that things didn't end particularly well for their favorite character. Those who loved Sansa were pleased to see her crowned Queen of the North, sure, and Davos lovers might have been satisfied with him heading off on a sea-faring adventure. The less said about Jon and Daenerys' divisive send-offs, though, the better.

Creator George R.R. Martin, however, says he was planning to conclude things in even bleaker ways in the long-awaited last books in his A Song of Ice and Fire series.

"I was going to kill more people," the author revealed in a candid new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending. I don't see a happy ending for Tyrion. His whole arc has been tragic from the first. I was going to have Sansa die, but she's been so appealing in the show, maybe I'll let her live …"

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While Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was the only character killed in the finale, Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) met their maker in the penultimate chapter, having been crushed by debris as Daenerys and Drogon attacked King's Landing and the Red Keep collapsed.

The siblings' (and lovers) brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) lived, and was reinstated as the Hand of the King, but many viewers saw this as bittersweet because his personal success ultimately came at the cost of his family and its legacy, as well as his other personal relationships.

It's been 15 since Ice and Fire readers were treated to a new book, with A Dance with Dragons having been published in 2011. Despite the delay in the next installment, titled The Winds of Winter, though, Martin insisted that he still intends to wrap things up. In fact, he'd feel like "a total failure" if he were to leave things open-ended...

"I would hate that. I want to finish," he stated. "If I wound up doing everything in my head, this could be the longest book in the series."

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Game of Thrones is streaming now on HBO. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting new TV shows heading our way or our A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review.

CATEGORIES HBO Streaming Services Amy WestSocial Links Navigation

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.

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