4 Behind-the-Scenes Problems That May Kill 'Game of Thrones'

Even if by some miracle (granted by the enchanted amulet he no doubt keeps hidden beneath his longshoreman's cap) Martin manages to heave out the sixth book in time for a 2016 photo finish, that still doesn't factor in the yearlong production schedule that each season of Game of Thrones requires. That means the soonest we'd see Season 6 would be 2018, and then we'd have to wait another five fucking years for Martin to put out the seventh book, putting the series finale somewhere in the realm of 2023.

So what exactly is going to happen? Not only does no one seem to have any idea, but no one involved in the production seems to be overly concerned, as the possibilities range everywhere from taking a really long hiatus to George R.R. Martin's suggestion of creating a totally unrelated mid-series to shift to some of his other books and novellas in the Game of Thrones universe, because what every Game of Thrones fan absolutely wants is another 1,000 character names to futilely try to memorize.

HBO
"If The Walking Dead can get a season and a half out of the prison, we can get 10 episodes out of Arya on a boat."

Take the Battle of Blackwater, an epic $8 million sea-and-land explosion-laden battle sequence so expensive and elaborate that they almost didn't film it (which would've resulted in Tyrion and Bronn standing around a table and saying, "Gosh, that Battle of Blackwater sure was crazy, as anyone who failed to witness it for themselves will surely be able to glean from both our current conversation and the many references we will make to it in the future").

HBO
"I can't believe Thor, Sauron, Conan, and Jack Sparrow all showed up. No one's ever going to see something that incredible again."

And before they could take a breath, the giant-size budget of the recent "Watchers on the Wall" episode managed to ramp up the game of financial chicken by implementing elaborate battle sets surrounded by Europe's largest green screen backdrop. It's a gamble that will continue to pay off so long as the fans keep watching.

So what happens if they stop watching? Just look to HBO's other series about ancient incest and violence, Rome, which was cancelled shortly after clocking in at an impressive $100 million for 12 episodes, or roughly $3 million per naked boob (which is right around what a season of Game of Thrones currently costs). When Rome was cancelled in its second season, budget was the number one reason given, meaning that the moment we see a ratings dip in Game of Thrones is the moment we'll see either an immediate cancellation or people in dragon costumes making fireballs out of Bic lighters and mouthfuls of whiskey. And when do you think that ratings dip might happen? Probably right around the time they go on hiatus or start adapting George R.R. Martin's other stories to kill time until Book 6 comes out.

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"We're introducing the characters of House Pancake next season to get some of that sweet endorsement money."

The thing is, the producers of the show have absolutely no idea how important those seemingly inconsequential characters and storylines are going to be, as they've only been told how the overall story is eventually going to end. Anything between now and then is a total fucking mystery to them. They just made the best decision for their television show without any consideration for how it might affect the story they're adapting (which, as we cannot stress enough, is still being written).

HBO
"He's back ... with a vengeance. Season 6, only on HBO."

Basically, eventually there will be two entirely different timelines for Game of Thrones fans -- the timeline in the show, and the one in Martin's novels. That's not a new thing, necessarily -- adaptations diverge from their source material all the time. But here, the source material is still being written. There are (at least) two novels left in the series that haven't come out yet. And if the show's production ends up catching up to Martin before the sixth book comes out, it's likely that they will go completely off the source material and write whatever they want, rather than wait five or 10 more years to complete the eight seasons of television they've already committed to.

That's going to create a huge clusterfuck for the fans (particularly if, for instance, Tyrion and Jaime team up to save the kingdom in the final episode of the television show, whereas in Martin's eventual final book they both get eaten by fucking dragons or something) that could potentially sabotage the reception of Martin's yet-to-be-released novels. That man is in his 60s and is currently in the middle of producing the one definitive work of his lifetime that will be remembered long after he succumbs to elderly fatness. When the time comes for the producers to either wait for him to put out another book or just take control of the Game of Thrones story themselves, they will almost certainly go for the latter, and things between them and Martin will get seriously ugly. Like Red Wedding ugly.