Well I'll just make up my own ending then.

*Spoilers*

Stannis and his army (with the aid of the Manderly's) ends up killing the entire Bolton family (kills Roose by having him covered head to toe in leeches ). Theon gets to flay Ramsay for good measure.

Just to throw her a bone, Brienne finds Sansa (and marries Jaime. Why not?). Sansa finally grows some sense and pushes Littlefinger off a cliff, saying some cool one liner as he falls. Ned's ghost appears and gives her a high-five.

Aria comes back home because that sub plot is really lame and no one is really overjoyed to see an 11 year old girl kill people in cold blood. Oh, she finds Nymeria again.

Davos Seaworth finds Rickon and Shaggydog, who head back to Winterfell and start rebuilding the place.

The entire King's Landing is blown to smithereens in a horrible explosion, which kills everyone there. Readers everywhere breathe a sigh of relief, as they no longer have to read about the political going ons of the area.

Dorne somehow disappears off the map, and no one cares. Same thing with the new Aegon subplot. Poof. They all vanish into thin air, and no one cares.

Zombie Caitlyn raises an army of death metal zombie vikings and kills the entire Frey family. After they're all dead, Ned's ghost gives her a good talking to and she goes on to the afterlife.

Jon is revived by Melissandre and with the aid of Stannis and the Night's Watch/Freemen, defeat the Others, which we've only seen twice now. Seriously GRRM, it's time you actually focused on this part of the plot.

Danerys is eaten by a dragon, and everyone cheers (except Jorah) because she's just a terrible ruler.

Tyrion continues to be sarcastic and witty, and people continue to love him for it.

Stannis moves the capital to the North (since King's Landing is vaporized) and becomes king. Sure, he's cold hearted, but he at least knows how to run a kingdom and ensure that justice and order are maintained.

Bran continues to spy on people through trees.

Hodor hodor hodor. Hodor hodor hodor hodor!

All that comes outside of the filming period right?

flying, acting, filming, and directing are all linked.  However all the actors does not need to be at every location so they may only need to fly out once depedning on where there scenes take place, where as the director has to be at every location.  Editing and putting the scenes together is after the filming.  From what I've understood about game of thrones is they fly out to a location and film all of the scenes in that location that they need to then go to the next spot.   You can find online where each location is, i forget.

I wallow in this fear everyday with the Berserk manga series....

Smeags said: Well I'll just make up my own ending then. *Spoilers* Stannis and his army (with the aid of the Manderly's) ends up killing the entire Bolton family (kills Roose by having him covered head to toe in leeches ). Theon gets to flay Ramsay for good measure. Just to throw her a bone, Brienne finds Sansa (and marries Jaime. Why not?). Sansa finally grows some sense and pushes Littlefinger off a cliff, saying some cool one liner as he falls. Ned's ghost appears and gives her a high-five. Aria comes back home because that sub plot is really lame and no one is really overjoyed to see an 11 year old girl kill people in cold blood. Oh, she finds Nymeria again. Davos Seaworth finds Rickon and Shaggydog, who head back to Winterfell and start rebuilding the place. The entire King's Landing is blown to smithereens in a horrible explosion, which kills everyone there. Readers everywhere breathe a sigh of relief, as they no longer have to read about the political going ons of the area. Dorne somehow disappears off the map, and no one cares. Same thing with the new Aegon subplot. Poof. They all vanish into thin air, and no one cares. Zombie Caitlyn raises an army of death metal zombie vikings and kills the entire Frey family. After they're all dead, Ned's ghost gives her a good talking to and she goes on to the afterlife. Jon is revived by Melissandre and with the aid of Stannis and the Night's Watch/Freemen, defeat the Others, which we've only seen twice now. Seriously GRRM, it's time you actually focused on this part of the plot. Danerys is eaten by a dragon, and everyone cheers (except Jorah) because she's just a terrible ruler. Tyrion continues to be sarcastic and witty, and people continue to love him for it. Stannis moves the capital to the North (since King's Landing is vaporized) and becomes king. Sure, he's cold hearted, but he at least knows how to run a kingdom and ensure that justice and order are maintained. Bran continues to spy on people through trees. Hodor hodor hodor. Hodor hodor hodor hodor!

Shit! We are pretty much on exactly the same wavelength ESPECIALLY the bold, although I want to see Arya as a Faceless (Wo)man, who gets back with Nymeria, and in getting back with Nymeria re-discovers he humanity and pulls back from the precipice of psychopathy. Other than that I'd be happy with all the rest of that ending.

For the San/San shippers (of which I'm not): Melissandre de-scarifies the Hound and he and Sansa marry in a totally romantic and non-pedo-creepy way.

Why not? Actors wanna get paid, and I'm sure all they need is demand more coin from HBO and they'll merrily keep on playing the Game of Thrones for as loong as there's a game to be played. As long as there aren't any scheduling conflicts they'll stick with the series. I imagine HBO have already optioned Dinklage for 4 more years.

He is not allowed to die yet.

Why wouldn't they? It's not only steady work, it's steady work on an incredibly popular television show. It will open up tons of other avenues for every actor involved that wishes to expand their acting career.

Anyway, George has some guy he is in constant contact with that has all of his drafts and notes and everything at all times so I would assume this guy has some rough idea on where the story is going, and would pass that along to some other writer. I doubt whoever his will leaves the franchise to, will want to just sit on it.

I heard that HBO has received the blessing of Martin and has secured the rights to finish off the show. Hope it's true. I'm going to try and find the source.

I would say don't finish the books. I'm not sure even Martin is able to finish it in a satisfying way.