Game of Thrones has seemingly already advanced to a point that odds and ends of George R.R. Martin’s as-yet-unpublished novels have perhaps been spoiled, while Season 6 stands to answer some of the series’ biggest questions ahead of readers. Not so, perhaps, as showrunners claim Season 6 won’t actually spoil the books, and is instead “quite divergent.”

You’re warned of a few HBO Game of Thrones spoilers from here on out, but where Season 6 will likely at least address some immediate update on Jon Snow’s literary fate, the remainder of the series may not end up spoiling so much of Martin’s work as we’d believed. There are several character meeting earlier ends on the show (including one Martin plans to circle back to), while showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss tell Entertainment Weekly of their increasing shift from the novels:

Benioff: People are talking about whether the books are going to be spoiled – and it’s really not true. So much of what we’re doing diverges from the books at this point. And while there are certain key elements that will be the same, we’re not going to talk so much about that – and I don’t think George is either. People are going to be very surprised when they read the books after the show. They’re quite divergent in so many respects for the remainder of the show.

Weiss: What makes the books so great is that George doesn’t make meticulous blueprints for every beat of this story and then fill in the blanks dutifully going from A to B to C, fleshing out an outline. At a certain point, we realized we were going to outpace the books and we kind of choose to see it as a great thing on both sides – there’s this amazing world George has created and now there are two different versions, and there’s no reason we can see why you can’t be thrilled and surprised and dismayed by both of these different versions of this world.

Martin has yet to deliver any formal update on sixth novel The Winds of Winter’s publishing date, while HBO has yet to settle on an official season count for the series (Martin has also said he’d need at least 10 to finish his literary saga ahead of the show), but will Game of Thrones feel the same with less undercurrent of Martin’s story?

Season 6 will premiere on April 24, Jon Snow spoilers and all.

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