For as complex as the Game of Thrones TV series is, its literary counterpart, A Song of Fire and Ice, is on a completely different level. Thousands of pages, dozens of settings and countless obscure characters make the novels — as compelling as they are — rather involved reading.
With that in mind, it’s hard to be too critical of Peter Dinklage — who plays Tyrion Lannister — for not having read the books on which the show is based.
Dinklage revealed to David Letterman on Late Show Wednesday that his knowledge of the mythical fantasy saga is limited to the HBO television series. That fact that didn’t exactly thrill the books’ author, George R.R. Martin. When asked how his confession was received by Martin, Dinklage replied, “Not well.”
On a show where no character is safe, fans of Tyrion may want to cross their fingers and hope that Martin — who has finished just five of the seven scheduled books in the series — doesn’t take Dinklage’s omission too personally.
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
Contact us at letters@time.com