George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series that HBO’s Game of Thrones is based off of, turned down the chance to make a cameo in the show’s final season.
In an interview, Martin revealed that series showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss invited him to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland to make an appearance in one of the show’s final episodes, but he turned it down, reportedly citing a desire to focus on writing The Winds of Winter.
“David and Dan invited me to a cameo in one of the final episodes, which I was tempted to do,” said Martin. “But I didn’t think just for the sake of a cameo I could take the time to return to Belfast.”
Martin has attempted to make a cameo appearance in an episode of Game of Thrones before, though it was for the ill-fated initial pilot episode that was cut – one that featured Tamzin Merchant instead of Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.
“There was a cameo in the original pilot that was cut,” he said. “I was a guest at Dany’s wedding. But that was when she was played by Tamzin Merchant so all that footage got thrown out when we recast with Emilia Clarke.”
Martin has been working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series that he’s been working on since the release of 2011’s A Dance With Dragons. While fans have grown impatient with Martin, he’s also mad that he hasn’t finished the book yet. In September 2018, he noted that he wishes he had finished the novel four years prior.
The eighth season of Game of Thrones will premiere on April 14, with just six more episodes left of the current TV adaptation of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
