There is plenty of sex — gay and straight — in the Game of Thrones TV show. It is HBO after all. But fans are curious as to why George R.R. Martin hasn’t included any gay sex scenes in his Song of Ice and Fire series upon which Game of Thrones is based.
The author addressed the issue at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in the U.K. on Monday night, according to the Guardian. Martin’s books are written through the viewpoints of various characters. None of the viewpoint characters are gay, so Martin hasn’t shown any gay sex scenes from their points of view. “A television show doesn’t have those limitations,” he said. “Will that change? It might. I’ve had letters from fans that want me to present particularly an explicit male sex scene — most of those letters come from women.”
“I’m not going to do it just for the sake of doing it,” he continued, “If the plot lends itself to that if one of my viewpoint characters is in a situation then I’m not going to shy away from it, but you can’t just insert things because everyone wants to see them. It is not a democracy. If it was a democracy, then Joffrey [the sadistic boy king] would have died much earlier than he did.”
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- What's the Deal With the Bitcoin Halving?
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com