Game of Thrones is an Alternate Universe?

This is ok, the show has always diverged a bit from the books, this last season especially, this is just the show runners saying yea this going to continue, we are going to outpace the books and they might not be the same.

Gah, complaints about differences between the books and the TV series from Game of Thrones fans make me think "Just deal with it you babies"... but then I am a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" fan (6x9=?) who has read the books, listened to the tapes, records and radio series and watched the two films and the TV series ALL of which diverge from all the others while telling the "same" story (and were released in an interleaved manner though I'm not old enough to have followed them from the start). I should note that these are all considered cannon and DNA (Douglas Adams), who was involved in the making of all the versions, was purposefully vague about any suggestion as to which one might be more cannon than any of the others... if nothing else it sorts the day-to-day fans from the hardcore ones ;)

Here's how I see it. The books are their own canon and the TV show is its own canon. Separate entertainment formats with separate canon is usually how it works.

Love the books? Check. Love the TV Series? Check. Problem? Nope. Looking forward to the next book and season with unabated anticipation? Check. I like to think most people realized that television would outpace an ongoing book series. After all in terms of production speed who do you think is gonna be faster, HBO or Martin?

Parallel, not alternate.

Why are you realizing this now?

Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Bionicle, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Walking Dead... It happens. No story can be ideal for books, movies, TV, and games, or even a reboot in the same media type, because each medium and each decade all tell stories slightly differently.