I wonder if GRRM is sitting back laughing at it all. He wrote those strong female leads that the show got all its original praise for, yet he took flack for how sexualized everything was. Which to be honest, he did on purpose because he was annoyed with how prudish americans were when it came to boobs compared to violence.
Without him, the characters fall apart, the sexposition is gone, and all we're left with is the cool visual violence.