--- title: Game of Thrones: George R.R. Martin on Gay Sex in Song of Ice and Fire description: "Will that change? It might." canonical: https://time.com/3103541/george-r-r-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T15:08:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:49.068Z og:title: Game of Thrones Author Explains Why There's No Gay Sex in His Books og:description: "Will that change? It might." og:url: https://time.com/3103541/george-r-r-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a9ae66ebf488c19/698688ac1eebf78bf13702e0/140403-martin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1800 og:image:height: 1013 og:image:alt: George R.R. Martin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Game of Thrones Author Explains Why There's No Gay Sex in His Books twitter:description: "Will that change? It might." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a9ae66ebf488c19/698688ac1eebf78bf13702e0/140403-martin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Game of Thrones_ Author Explains Why There's No Gay Sex in His Books > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Worth Your Time: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Worth Your Time is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more. Worth Your Time is a curated guide to the culture worth knowing, from the biggest conversations of the moment to the books, shows, ideas and discoveries worth your attention. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 12, 2014 3:08 PM UTC  George R.R. Martin at the Season 3 premiere of HBO's "Game Of Thrones" on March 18, 2013 in Hollywood, Calif. George R.R. Martin at the Season 3 premiere of HBO's "Game Of Thrones" on March 18, 2013 in Hollywood, Calif. Kevin Winter / Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 12, 2014 3:08 PM UTC 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](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/11/george-rr-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex) 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.” \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/11/george-rr-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3103541/george-r-r-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3103541/george-r-r-martin-game-of-thrones-gay-sex/"},"headline":"Game of Thrones Author Explains Why There's No Gay Sex in His Books","datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:08:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:49.068Z","description":"\"Will that change? 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