George RR Martin says 'Game of Thrones' could have gone on way longer

If you're lamenting the fact that Game of Thrones will be finished forever soon, don't blame George RR Martin.

He's just as upset about the show ending as you are.

"I dunno. Ask David and Dan when they come through," Martin said on the Emmys red carpet on Monday, when asked by Variety why the show was ending. "We could have gone to 11, 12, 13 seasons, but I guess they wanted a life."

To clarify, it doesn't sound like Martin is saying the story itself could have kept going, but rather that the existing material could have been drawn out more.

"If you've read my novels, you know there was enough material for more seasons," he said. "They made certain cuts, but that's fine."

It sounds as though Martin has been negotiating for more seasons of the show for a while. Initially the showrunners wanted seven and he wanted 10 -- but in the end, he said, they won.

Still, it's not all bad news.

"We have five other shows, five prequels, in development, that are based on other periods in the history of Westeros, some of them just 100 years before Game of Thrones, some of them 5000 years before Game of Thrones," Martin said.

So there's plenty more Westeros-based action still to come.