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Back in 2011, no one could have predicted that “Game of Thrones” would soon become the biggest show on television, and arguably of all time. While HBO was hot off of a decade-plus of major hits, and adult genre TV was on the rise, it was impossible to predict the success that a big-budget epic fantasy series could have worldwide.<\/p>\n
Having the right time, right place, and right production team and cast all played a part, but they had a strong foundation out of the gate thanks to author George R.R. Martin, whose “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels were already massively popular. The rich characters and interwoven storylines of the books were ripe for a live-action adaptation, and in the early seasons, Martin stayed closely involved, even writing a handful of episodes himself.<\/p>\n
For the first four seasons of “Game of Thrones,” Martin wrote one script per year: “The Pointy End” in Season 1, “Blackwater” in Season 2, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” in Season 3, and “The Lion and the Rose” in Season 4. But his creative role extended beyond those four scripts. “While George isn’t in the writers’ room, he reads the outlines and gives his notes,” series producer Bryan Cogman explained to the\u00a0Observer<\/a> in 2015.<\/p>\n The show gained steady momentum through those first four seasons, with many pointing to Season 4 as the absolute pinnacle of the series. However, starting with Season 5, Martin stopped his tradition of writing individual episodes himself, and he grew distant from the show as a whole, for reasons that he’s said have more to do with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.<\/p>\n