It is no surprise to me that a rift has developed. While Benioff and Weiss are promising to “end up in the same places,” you only need to read the books to see the large-scale nuclear level destruction the show has done to the path George R.R. Martin was carefully laying down.

By the end of season 6, many of the characters has been twisted pretzel style to fit the shortened timeline and the grand designs of the showrunner's (how did Ramsay learn Roman Legion tactics again?) and while everyone loved Season 6, I felt it was great spectacle that often betrayed the internal logic of the books down to their core.

Add this to Martin’s clear annoyance at fans continued impatience for him to finish WOW, and you have a real cold war breaking out (yup, I have Dad jokes).