Fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series have waited a really long time for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter. After over ten years of delays, even Martin admits it might never get finished.
In a recent chat with THR, Martin shared updates about The Winds of Winter. While most of the talk was about four movies he’s funding himself, inspired by sci-fi writer Howard Waldrop’s short stories, the topic of his long-awaited book came up. People were curious about how he’s juggling the novel with his other projects.
I’m 13 years late, unfortunately, Every time I think about it, I ask myself, ‘How did it get this delayed?’ I guess it just happens one day at a time.
he saidAdvertisement
But that’s still a priority, A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!
he continued
The wait for The Winds of Winter keeps getting harder for fans. The last book in the series, A Dance With Dragons, came out in 2011. That was also the year HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones started, bringing even more attention to the world of Westeros.
In November 2023, Martin shared that he’s written 1,100 pages of The Winds of Winter. The problem? That’s the same number of pages he had finished the year before. Back in 2022, he said he was “about three-quarters done” and expected the book to be over 1,500 pages long.
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In September, Martin admitted he hadn’t made as much progress on The Winds of Winter as he wanted because his TV projects took up a lot of his time. And here’s the tricky part — this book isn’t even the last one in the series! A seventh book, A Dream of Spring, is supposed to finish the story, but many fans have started to lose hope that it will ever happen. (By the way, a THR article mistakenly called The Winds of Winter the final book, but Martin hasn’t officially canceled A Dream of Spring).
On a positive note, Martin said in the interview that he could never retire because he’s “not a golfer.” So, there’s still some hope!
Even if The Winds of Winter never comes out, there’s plenty happening in Westeros on TV. House of the Dragon is planned for four seasons, with production for the third starting early next year. Another spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is expected to release in late 2025. Plus, there’s even talk about a Game of Thrones movie.
Source: THR