Game of Thrones' show vs. book changes: Writer explains why they had to happen 

\'Game of Thrones\' show vs. book changes: Writer explains why they had to happen

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"Game of Thrones" hasn\'t yet surpassed the novels on which it is based, George R.R. Martin\'s "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, but in Season 5 it has largely struck out on its own path. 

Major characters\' storylines are deviating in significant ways, while other seemingly important book characters are being left out entirely, and it\'s causing a new disturbance between fans of the show and fans of the books.

In October, months before the Season 5 premiere, Zap2it visited the set of "Game of Thrones" with a group of international journalists. Producer Bryan Cogman spoke about the challenges of adapting "A Song of Ice and Fire" and what that means for the TV show.

"It\'s always been a juggling act," he says. "That\'s one of the great challenges when we\'re piecing together the show. When we\'re breaking the story, we generally just tackle each character one at a time and just figure out what their storyline and arc are, and then the next step is the blending and the placement of them in episodes -- and even then all that often changes in the editing room."

As showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss previously  told Zap2it, their biggest difficulty in Season 5 was "resisting the urge to expand, and finding a way to start contracting." While that means cutting out storylines, it also means repurposing existing characters instead of introducing new ones. 

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One example is bringing back Jaqen H\'ghar at the House of Black and White. In the novels, Arya\'s teacher is someone called the Kindly Man, while Jaqen is believed to be on a different mission in a distant part of the world. 

"Certainly when we started scripting the House of Black and White, it seemed like the natural thing for a TV show to have her brought into this world with the representative that we\'ve already met from this world. They have a shared history together, and it gives the scenes an added dramatic weight to it," says Cogman. "Ultimately David and Dan [Weiss] want to tell the story that they want to tell based on George\'s world. We\'re certainly aware of a lot of the fan feedback, but no, we\'re not saying, \'Oh, we better do this because ...\' We have to sort of trust our instincts."

Does this mean the Kindly Man is insignificant, or Jaqen\'s secret mission won\'t be important? Cogman says of the decision to change the storyline, "Those are always the big conversations, because you\'re absolutely right, you remove one thread and it all changes. You end up having the show universe and the book universe, and we\'ve been doing that to a degree since Season 1."

RELATED: All your Jaqen H\'ghar Season 5 questions, answered

He later notes, "We did [deviate] to a degree since the beginning. I think it just ends up being what the needs are for a season of television, and the needs of a fifth season of TV are different from the needs of a fifth book."

It\'s not like Martin doesn\'t have a say in the show changes either. Though he opted not to write episodes of Season 5 or 6 to better focus on writing his sixth and penultimate "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel, "The Winds of Winter," he does hear what Benioff, Weiss and Cogman are planning for each season.

"He\'s not in the writers\' room when we break the outline. He reads the outline every year and gives his notes and thoughts," Cogman says.

The writers also have the benefit of knowing how Martin plans to end the series. As he tells Zap2it, "There might be a few deviations along the route, but we\'re heading towards the same destination." And yes, the show writers have been planning for that destination for a while now.

RELATED: Major \'Game of Thrones\' and \'Winds of Winter\' events will be the same

"We\'re teeing up stuff all the time. We have done so since Season 1. I mean, we\'ve known answers to questions since Season 1 and fates of certain characters. There have been little bits and things, so sure, we\'re teeing up. We know we can finish the story, which is huge. We didn\'t know that in Season 1 or even Season 2," Cogman says. "We\'re certainly writing with that in mind. What that is, I obviously can\'t say."

Cogman also says that being able to "pick and choose" material from the novels, and the fact that the series\' run is pretty well assured at this point, gives the writers a little more freedom.

"If we want Dany [Emilia Clarke] emotionally to start here and end here, we will find what\'s in the books at various points to achieve that," he says. "That\'s why you\'ve seen things in the books switched around. It ultimately comes down to what\'s in the season\'s story -- and of course having in mind what we want to tee up for later. But ultimately, like most shows, we do tackle the story season by season."

The bottom line? The show has grown to the point where it can\'t tell a completely faithful version of Martin\'s books, but the writers are doing their very best to stay truthful to the source material -- even the parts that haven\'t been published yet.

"It\'s an adaptation, a loving adaptation. We\'re telling the TV universe version of \'A Song of Ice and Fire,\' and the choices made are to support that," Cogman says. "Some might, some might not. Some might hate it, some might love it."

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

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