The Game Of Thrones series finale was polarizing, to say the least. Fans were split on how the show ended, but the creator himself breathed a sigh of relief once the show was over. "I don’t think [the TV series] was very good for me," George R.R. Martin said in an interview with The Observer. "The very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down. Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day … I’d feel terrible because I’d be thinking: 'My God, I have to finish the book. I’ve only written four pages when I should have written 40.'" Martin still needs to complete two books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, which he claims may not coincide with how the show ended.
"But having the show finish is freeing, because I’m at my own pace now," Martin continued. "I have good days and I have bad days and the stress is far less, although it’s still there… I’m sure that when I finish A Dream of Spring you’ll have to tether me to the Earth.” A prequel series, set to take place thousands of years before Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, will be coming to HBO in the near future. Hopefully, Martin can wrap up his books before then.