So I asked, (apparently I’m not the only one asking questions about what happened right now), and managed to get a few new bits of information. GRRM has made it clear he’s ‘not pleased’ with how the show ended behind closed doors. Things were already strained between him and D&D, but this was the final straw. It’s categorically NOT the ending he had planned for the characters. The good thing is that it’s finally lit a rocket up his ass to finish the next book...
The original plan for S7 and 8 was quite different. Cersei’s pregnancy was meant to end with her miscarrying at the end of S7 as Jaime rode North. That scene was filmed, but held back, and then cut entirely. That was meant to signal the start of her spiralling into absolute madness. The whole nonsensical ‘Bronn being sent to kill Jaime and Tyrion’ plot is a hangover from that original outline, but he was meant to go after Sansa (who Cersei believed had her poisoned), and in turn Brienne, which was supposed to be the death knell for any reconciliation for the twins when Bronn came North and told Tyrion and Jaime about Cersei plans. That was the set up for Jaime being the Valonqar, which morphed into Jon killing Dany.
Dany was always meant to lose it after being provoked by Cersei, but the situation was a lot less black and white. With nothing left to lose, Batshit!Cersei was going to outright threaten to blow up King’s Landing with the remaining wildfire. Dany still ends up razing the capital, but it’s in the aftermath of a far more even battle. She wins, but but everyone (including Grey Worm) she brought West with her dies. Both Jon and Tyrion walk away from her too, and she commands Drogon to melt the throne and flies back East.
George is working towards a return to seven independent kingdoms in the books, but they cut so many of his characters that is was never a realistic option. In the show, Jon was meant to sit on the throne originally, with Jaime, in the aftermath of killing Cersei, paying for his crimes by serving as his Hand. They essentially split the two major beats of Jaime’s arc, killing his Queen and becoming Hand, between Jon and Tyrion and fucked him (and Cersei) over, because HBO wanted to ensure that Kit, Emilia and particularly Peter would get a shot at Emmys. (Nikolaj and Lena were smart enough to realise that their character arcs were being sacrificed.) King Bran was the result of D&D being OBSESSED with reading online theories and wanting to come out of left field. There was also discussion of how it would be perceived if they removed a woman from the throne and placed a man there instead. ‘Bran the Broken’, as a disabled character, was the compromise. The second hand embarrassment is fucking painful!
