It was previously reported that "Game of Thrones" season 6 will premiere long before author George R.R. Martin will be able to get the sixth book, "The Winds of Winter," out to store shelves, which means there is the potential of the series spoiling the events of the books. The series' showrunners, however, have now denied that this is true.

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that "Game of Thrones" season 6 and "The Winds of Winter" will generally have a few similarities, particularly in regards to major plot beats, but getting to those key events will play out very differently.

"People are talking about whether the books are going to be spoiled – and it's really not true," explained Benioff. "So much of what we're doing diverges from the books at this point. And while there are certain key elements that will be the same, we're not going to talk so much about that – and I don't think George is either."

Benioff continued to explain that fans who watch the show will be surprised with the way events play out in "The Winds of Winter" because of how different the two will be, despite "Game of Thrones" being primarily based on the books. 

Fans have noted that major differences on the show began to surface more often than not during the fourth and fifth seasons, where some characters have been dropped, altered and new storylines have overridden what was in the books by Martin. 

"The Winds of Winter" is expected to launch by early 2017, prior to the release of "Game of Thrones" season 7, but despite the delay, it now appears that fans of the book won't have to worry all that much about plot points and events being spoiled in the HBO series.

According to Screen Rant, this can be taken as both a good and bad thing for fans. It is good news for those who want to be privy to the events of the book but it also means that the television series is no longer a direct adaptation of the books.