Game of Thrones season six won't spoil the books, says showrunner

The upcoming sixth season is the first to move the story beyond George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, after the author admitted in January that his latest opus, The Winds of Winter, wouldn’t hit the shelves before the new episodes had aired.

But David Benioff – who runs the HBO mega-hit with Dan Weiss – says that, while they met with Martin a couple of years ago to discuss the broad future direction of the stories, the TV series and the books will take significantly different paths going forward.

“People are talking about whether the books are going to be spoiled – and it’s really not true,” Benioff told Entertainment Weekly.

“So much of what we’re doing diverges from the books at this point. And while there are certain key elements that will be the same, we’re not going to talk so much about that – and I don’t think George is either.

"People are going to be very surprised when they read the books after the show. They’re quite divergent in so many respects for the remainder of the show.”

Game of Thrones season six – which the showrunners are confident is “the best one we’ve done” – returns on 24th April on HBO and Sky Atlantic.