George R. R. Martin Hints He Knows the 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Ending

As fans well know, Game of Thrones isn't just a wildly popular HBO television series. It's based on the fantasy genre favorite A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels by author George R.R. Martin. However, while the television series is ending, there are still more books to come meaning that the two endings may end up being a bit different and when it comes to how the television series will end, well, Martin has some idea.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Martin revealed that he knows the broad details of how the HBO series will come to an end, though he expects that he will still be somewhat surprised with how it all plays out.

"Well, to a degree," Martin said when asked if he would be surprised by the ending. "I mean, I think ... the major points of the ending will be things that I told them, you know, five or six years ago. But there may also be changes, and there'll be a lot added."

It makes sense that Martin would have some idea of the ending -- it's an adaptation of his work, after all -- but Martin is also careful to acknowledge that there are differences in what he's written and what ends up on screen. While the stories are generally the same premise, they simply play out differently -- something that's pretty standard when it comes to taking something from page to screen of any size.

"Some of the deviation, of course, is because I've been so slow with these books," the author admitted. "I really should've finished this thing four years ago — and if I had, maybe it would be telling a different story here. It's two variations of the same story, or a similar story, and you get that whenever anything is adapted. The analogy I've often used is, to ask how many children did [Gone with the Wind's] Scarlett O'Hara have? Do you know the answer to that?"

He continued, "Three children in the book, one by each husband. She had one child in the movie. And in real life, of course, Scarlett O'Hara had no children, because she never existed. Margaret Mitchell made her up. The book is there. You can pick it up and read Mitchell's version of it, or you can see the movie and see David Selznick's version of it. I think they're both true to the spirit of the work, and hopefully that's also true of Game of Thrones on one hand, and A Song of Ice and Fire on the other hand."

As for Game of Thrones ending, while the story continues in his novels, Martin revealed that he's a bit sad.

"You know, it's complex," Martin says. "I'm a little sad, actually. I wish we had a few more seasons. But I understand. [Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss] are gonna go on to do other things, and I'm sure some of the actors were signed up for like seven or eight years, and they would like to go on and take other roles. All of that is fair. I'm not angry or anything like that, but there's a little wistfulness in me."

What do you think will happen in the ending of Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments below!

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.