Game of Thrones Season 8 Won’t Feature George R.R. Martin Cameo

Throughout its run, Game of Thrones has quietly featured a ton of celebrity cameos. Some have been more obvious than others (cough, Ed Sheeran, cough), but there have been enough familiar faces popping up among the extras that it’s one of the show’s ~things~ at this point. Rock musicians, YouTube stars and even a George W. Bush mask are all among those who’ve come onto the show. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, too, were found among the Hall of Faces by eagle-eyed viewers.

One person who has not graced the screen on Game of Thrones, however, is author George R.R. Martin, whose novel series A Song of Ice and Fire served as the basis for the show (up to its sixth season, at least). Now, Martin reveals that as Game of Thrones nears its end with the eighth and final season, Benioff and Weiss apparently tried to recruit Martin for a shot or two as a bit of tribute to the scribe, but he declined.

Everything To Know About Game of Thrones Season 8

“David and Dan invited me to a cameo in one of the final episodes, which I was tempted to do,” Martin told Entertainment Weekly. “But I didn’t think just for the sake of a cameo I could take the time to return to Belfast.”

Indeed, Martin has been busy finishing up that long-overdue next installment to the book series, The Winds of Winter, but perhaps another reason for his reticence to fly out for a cameo is that he’d already filmed one we never saw.

Martin told EW that he would’ve appeared in Game of Thrones early on if the original pilot wasn’t canned, as he said, “There was a cameo in the original pilot that was cut. I was a guest at Dany’s wedding. But that was when she was played by Tamzin Merchant so all that footage got thrown out when we recast with Emilia Clarke.”

As if we didn’t have enough of a reason to want to see the original footage that was trashed in the show’s first pilot effort, now we know that there’s potentially a shot of Martin in the only cameo role he’ll ever have on Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO for Season 8 on Sunday, April 14 at 9/8c.

PHOTOS: Game of Thrones Season 8 Photos

Game of ThronesPhoto: HBO