George R.R. Martin, the celebrated author of the “Game of Thrones” series, recently expressed his disappointment in Hollywood writers and producers for their tendency to ruin the legacy of great written stories through remakes and reimaginings. In a blog post on his website, Martin lamented that little has changed since his comments in 2022 about the obligation to stay true to source material.
“Very little has changed since then. If anything, things have gotten worse,” Martin wrote. “Everywhere you look, there are more screenwriters and producers eager to take great stories and ‘make them their own.'”
Martin cited numerous authors, including Stan Lee, Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Raymond Chandler, and Jane Austen, whose works have been trampled on by studios adding their own twist. He argued that no matter how great the writer or the book, there always seems to be someone who thinks they can do better and is eager to “improve” the story.
“They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse,” Martin added in his blog.
Martin’s latest comments come just weeks after Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the studio would continue with more remakes and sequels because they are easier to market. The consistent reimaginings of classic stories are happening elsewhere, too, with Warner Bros. having recently announced another “Lord of the Rings” production slated for 2026.
However, Martin did praise the FX series “Shogun,” saying he thought “the author would have been pleased” with the adaptation. “Once in a while, though, we do get a really good adaptation of a really good book, and when that happens, it deserves applause,” he acknowledged.
Martin had similar sentiments in 2022 when he and fellow author Neil Gaiman buried Hollywood for its love of reimagining books, stating that it was a controversial issue in Hollywood to feel obligated to be faithful to the written material.
