George RR Martin says The Winds of Winter will be ‘quite different’ to HBO show

George RR Martin says that his long-anticipated book The Winds Of Winter – part of the hugely popular Game Of Thrones series – will be “quite different” from the HBO television show.

The US writer said there would be “new characters” arriving in the new novel and teased that not all the characters that survived on screen would do so.

Writing about the ongoing writing process on his website, he said: “What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening (writing) is taking me further and further away from the television series.

“Some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds Of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.”

Martin said that the differences were “inevitable” as his novels were “much bigger and much much more complex than the series”.

“Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa,” he said.

On the introduction of new characters he added that the books’ “major players” would “inevitably…be encountering new people in lands far and near”.

He added: “One thing I can say,  in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice and Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice and Fire.

“Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all.

“Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening.”

It comes after Martin reassured fans that the world of Westeros, where the books are set, is his “number one priority” and would remain so “until the story is told”.