Current Events > George RR Martin hopes to finish Winds of Winter before his new show comes out.

(+) Yeah! (+)

THE HEDGE KNIGHT will be a lot shorter than GAME OF THRONES or HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, with a much different tone but it's still Westeros, so no one is truly safe Ira Parker and his team are doing a great job. I hope to visit the shoot come July, when I swing by Belfast on my way to the worldcon in Glasgow. The show will make its debut next year and if it does well, THE SWORN SWORD and THE MYSTERY KNIGHT will follow. By which time I hope to have finished some more Dunk & Egg stories (yes, after I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER).

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2024/05/21/heres-egg/

It just seems like hes bored of the main story and just wants to do side content.

Another year, another excuse: The George RR Martin Story.

Still mindblowing that he has published exactly zero more GoT books since BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED

Why doesn't he just say he isn't interested in finishing it lol

At this point most fans have probably moved on, especially with the show's ending souring a lot of people on the franchise

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


None of us will survive long enough, let alone him.

Hahahahahaha.

I once believed Winds of Winter would be released before Game of Thrones reached that part of the story. I was a fool.

I hope to win the lottery without buying a ticket. I feel like my odds might be higher.

Secretly he's probably finished Winds of Winter about six years ago, but he wanted to release them at the same time after such a long break but now he's stuck not knowing how to end the series with Dream of Spring. Watch, I'm calling it, when it comes out the final book comes out soon after. He just has horrible writers block since the TV show ended similar to what he actually had in mind.

tbh, after all these years, idk if I really care about the main story anymore.

I might check in to see how some of the subplots the show cut out might play out, but I'm not sure about the rest.

I also remember AFfC & ADWD being weaker than the first three, so we'll have to see how this plays out...if it happens at all.

It sounds like hes saying not before the show comes out but before the 2nd/3rd seasons are or before they need material for the 4th season.

Euripides posted...

Still mindblowing that he has published exactly zero more GoT books since BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED

We havent heard from Rickon since before the Dreamcast came out.

MC_BatCommander posted...

Why doesn't he just say he isn't interested in finishing it lol

Because he doesn't want to piss off people who might otherwise watch the myriad shows he's producing.

While I do believe we will actually see Winds of Winter I have already come to terms and accepted he will be gone before we ever get A Dream of Spring and see the conclusion. I have made peace with it. There is nothing else to do rather than just accept it because I just flat out know he isn't going to be around long enough to finish it.

I mean we never know when any of us will be gone but at least in a situation like with Patrick Rothfuss I feel he is young enough and we are only waiting on one more book that I feel like that will eventually happen.

But George is 75 and not in exactly good physical shape. I feel like even under the best scenario he would be 80 for the final book. And again that would be an ideal scenario where he knocks it out in 3 or 4 years which we know he won't do.

I remember back when I was younger and I felt like Stephen King was dragging out The Dark Tower series when the 3rd book had just come out. At that point it was 3 books in a 9 year period. Looking back the longest gap in the series was 6 years and he finished the final 3 books in a 2 year period. I actually didn't know how good I had it lol.

And on that note I disliked the ending of The Dark Tower so much after being invested in it for 20+ years that maybe George not finishing the main series is a good thing. I can just forever reread it and enjoy it like I do now without a disappointing ending.

Someone needs to hit up Sanderson to finish this shit.

lol, yeah, sure he will. >_>

absolutebuffoon posted...

Secretly he's probably finished Winds of Winter about six years ago, but he wanted to release them at the same time after such a long break but now he's stuck not knowing how to end the series with Dream of Spring. Watch, I'm calling it, when it comes out the final book comes out soon after. He just has horrible writers block since the TV show ended similar to what he actually had in mind.

Saying this as someone who is sitting on a completed 100k word fanfic but releasing it one chapter a week, the wait for me is probably more agonizing than for any reader that may be following it.

That said, I don't have the curse of knowing people hated the ending of my TV adaptation, so

There are currently living POV characters that haven't had a new chapter or even appearance since George W Bush was in office.

I hope in like 30 years nobody remembers his name and his books are just another random unfinished fantasy series sitting next to all the other ones on bookstore shelves. The man doesn't deserve a "legacy" at this point. He deserves to be forgotten.

Shut the fuck up George

DarthAragorn posted...

There are currently living POV characters that haven't had a new chapter or even appearance since George W Bush was in office.

Yeah, this is all you need to say-- as much as I loved reading the books, that was more than a decade ago & I just can't force myself to care about this series which he will clearly never finish.

You reminded me of the car accident Stephen King got in, 25 years ago. Man I didn't realize it was that long ago.

creativerealms posted...

Hahahahahaha.

I once believed Winds of Winter would be released before Game of Thrones reached that part of the story. I was a fool.

You sweet summer child.

There is only one thing I want to hear from George in relation to Winds of Winter, official release date.

I don't care how far he is in the process, how many pages he's completed, how he hopes to have it done before Season 17 of House of the Dragon. Give me the actual confirmed by the publisher date, or STFU about it.

If he doesn't want to write it that's fine too, just stop being a tease about it and say he's done.

The TV show is the official ending, it is exactly what George wanted coffee cup and all.

archizzy posted...

But George is 75 and not in exactly good physical shape. I feel like even under the best scenario he would be 80 for the final book. And again that would be an ideal scenario where he knocks it out in 3 or 4 years which we know he won't do.

Even if he's physically fit enough to finish the series, how are the years going to affect his mental capacity to write at the level he was writing at 30 years ago? How many writers do their best work in their 80s?

The book is never coming out, give up

He keeps setting timelines for when he'll finish the book. Yet time and time again, he doesn't meet the timeline he sets for himself. And he wonders why fans are bitter

There are babies who were born when the last book came out that are now teenagers entering high school.

Sanderson knows his style doesn't match Martin's.

Give me the notes and I'll finish them. I'll just make sure to include 2 page descriptions of food and boiled leather to fatten up the books to 700 pages long

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I 100% agree with you. I think it just comes from people knowing he finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and knowing his work pace and the amount of material he has put out of his own stuff so they just throw his name out there without really putting too much thought into whether he would actually be a good fit knowing that at least he gets shit done in a timely matter.

https://youtu.be/lle4t4o8EDk?si=oh3t02_1bxr38Juw
Tradition and whatnot.

Winds of Winter wiki:

In January 2016, Martin confirmed that he had not met an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher for the release of the book before the sixth season of the HBO show. He added that completing the book was "months away still... if the writing goes well". Martin also revealed that there had been a previous deadline of October 2015 that he had considered achievable in May 2015 and that in September 2015 he had still considered the end-of-year deadline achievable.

Boombam99 posted...

Winds of Winter wiki:

In January 2016, Martin confirmed that he had not met an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher for the release of the book before the sixth season of the HBO show. He added that completing the book was "months away still... if the writing goes well". Martin also revealed that there had been a previous deadline of October 2015 that he had considered achievable in May 2015 and that in September 2015 he had still considered the end-of-year deadline achievable.

to simplify it

he thought he was nearly done nine years ago

I want news outlets to stop reporting on this. Everyone should stop paying any attention to him when he discusses this book unless he actually releases it or finally admits he cant or doesnt want to finish it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Could always give it to Joe Abercrombie.

Make that shit even more depressing.

Sanderson is busy with his own stuff, I'd genuinely hate seeing that delayed so he can finish someone else's work. Just let the series die

kneel to the one true king

For anyone who has only watched the show and not read the books, the last thing we had happen in the books was the Night's Watch killing Jon Snow

archizzy posted...

While I do believe we will actually see Winds of Winter I have already come to terms and accepted he will be gone before we ever get A Dream of Spring and see the conclusion. I have made peace with it. There is nothing else to do rather than just accept it because I just flat out know he isn't going to be around long enough to finish it.

I mean we never know when any of us will be gone but at least in a situation like with Patrick Rothfuss I feel he is young enough and we are only waiting on one more book that I feel like that will eventually happen.

But George is 75 and not in exactly good physical shape. I feel like even under the best scenario he would be 80 for the final book. And again that would be an ideal scenario where he knocks it out in 3 or 4 years which we know he won't do.

I remember back when I was younger and I felt like Stephen King was dragging out The Dark Tower series when the 3rd book had just come out. At that point it was 3 books in a 9 year period. Looking back the longest gap in the series was 6 years and he finished the final 3 books in a 2 year period. I actually didn't know how good I had it lol.

And on that note I disliked the ending of The Dark Tower so much after being invested in it for 20+ years that maybe George not finishing the main series is a good thing. I can just forever reread it and enjoy it like I do now without a disappointing ending.

yeah, the last book is never coming out so the next one is just a big whatever

Euripides posted...

For anyone who has only watched the show and not read the books, the last thing we had happen in the books was the Night's Watch killing Jon Snow

technically the last thing that happened was a bloodbath that was omitted from the show entirely

"He saw how bad the ending of the show was received, and now doesn't want to finish it."

Even if I DID believe that... it shouldn't be an excuse that deters him.

None of the actual, individual EVENTS of the shows ending are necessarily bad. Some of them, like Mad Queen Dany, I'd been predicting since Storm of Swords or earlier. The show suffered from having shit pacing and shit writers failing to set up the story beats necessary to make these major events work. I'm confident Martin could write a plot where the exact same things happened, and make it work so much better.

edit: obviously SPOILERS, does that still need to be mentioned

I'm sorry, unpopular opinion I know but am I the only one who doesn't mind that aSoIaF will never be finished? I mean this way Jon Snow stays dead forever. Win win.

Don't get me wrong I would have loved for the books to be finished, I'm an aSoIaF fan, not a GoT fan (not that I hate the series or anything but yeah). But age has taught me to look at the good side of things.

edit2: Okay yeah lol we have officially moved on. Shut the fuck up George.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


When I say it, I mean it more as sarcasm, (as a way to say that Martin will never live long enough to finish the series).

Yeah, don't care. It's never gonna come out.

SAlYAN posted...

"He saw how bad the ending of the show was received, and now doesn't want to finish it."

Even if I DID believe that... it shouldn't be an excuse that deters him.

None of the actual, individual EVENTS of the shows ending are necessarily bad. Some of them, like Mad Queen Dany, I'd been predicting since Storm of Swords or earlier. The show suffered from having shit pacing and shit writers failing to set up the story beats necessary to make these major events work. I'm confident Martin could write a plot where the exact same things happened, and make it work so much better.

Yeah honestly, that was my biggest issue with it. Yes, they established that house Targaryen carries the trait for Insanity in its bloodline, but they did fuck all to set Dany up for that. So it just felt really out of place. But it could work with better foreshadowing.

NoxObscuras posted...

Yeah honestly, that was my biggest issue with it. Yes, they established that house Targaryen carries the trait for Insanity in its bloodline, but they did fuck all to set Dany up for that. So it just felt really out of place. But it could work with better foreshadowing.

More than that, the foreshadowing is THERE in the books. Shes a child with good intentuons and ultimate power. No matter how "good" she is, her only real "leadership" skill is the fact she has the fantasy equivalent of nuclear weapons. That will work fine on Essos, where "might makes right," but will go over like a lead balloon on Westeros, and she has no idea how to deal with that.

Honestly, Tyrion's speech to Jon in the final episode about why she needs to be killed is pretty damn on point. So much so, that I'm confident Martin wrote it. Not in the "these exact words will be in the book" sense; but when he handed over his notes to D&D, those exact words were probably in the bio he wrote for Dany. It sounds like the way he would describe her in an interview.

SAlYAN posted...

"He saw how bad the ending of the show was received, and now doesn't want to finish it."

Even if I DID believe that... it shouldn't be an excuse that deters him.

None of the actual, individual EVENTS of the shows ending are necessarily bad. Some of them, like Mad Queen Dany, I'd been predicting since Storm of Swords or earlier. The show suffered from having shit pacing and shit writers failing to set up the story beats necessary to make these major events work. I'm confident Martin could write a plot where the exact same things happened, and make it work so much better.

yeah the show needed another 6-8 episode season at least. season 8 should have just been the battle against the white walkers

thronedfire2 posted...

yeah the show needed another 6-8 episode season at least. season 8 should have just been the battle against the white walkers

Or the last 2 seasons could have just been full 10 episode seasons. Which would give you an extra 7 episodes.

Dude's 75 and has spent the last decade jet setting around the world as an actual big time celebrity, not just author.

He'll be dead in a decade and should honestly just say the GOT story is done and that the Series was canon.