3 days Ago By Michael Hein
A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin goes through phases of enthusiasm and hope for his long-awaited book, The Winds of Winter, and phases of pessimism.
Lately, the author’s statements about the book seem to have reached a new low, culminating in an interview with Time this week where he sounded less optimistic than ever. Martin said that he’s “still working on” the long-awaited book, but admitted that other projects can and do eat into his time and attention, from spinoffs of Game of Thrones for HBO to other business interests. This quote, taken alongside some of other recent public statements, makes it feel like we’ve entered a new phase in the purgatorial wait for The Winds of Winter.
“That’s the curse of my life here,” Martin said when he was asked the obligatory question about his book. “There’s no doubt Winds of Winter is 13 years late. I’m still working on it.
I have periods where I make progress and then other things divert my attention.”In interviews and blog posts of years past, Martin often assured fans that the book was his number one priority, and that his work as a TV producer was not distracting him. After Game of Thrones Season 4, he even gave up his ritual of writing one of the scripts for each season to focus entirely on the book.
However, now Martin acknowledged that “one of the HBO shows” was one of the factors that could distract him from his novel. At the same time, he said that his other businesses like his theater, bookstore, and bar are not a part of this problem, nor is his involvement with the genetic engineering project Colossal.[RELATED: Game of Thrones Author’s Critiques of House of the Dragon: A Complete Timeline]“You’ve heard exactly what role I played in the dire wolf thing,” he said.
“It did not seriously impinge on the writing of Winds of Winter. But people make it seem — my more fanatic fans — as if it’s one or the other, and it’s not.”Still, Martin has been more honest recently about other deadlines taking priority over The Winds of Winter.
He has also grown more impatient with fans criticizing him for the long wait recently, and more sensitive when speculation stirs up, scolding blog readers for assuming that every “big announcement” he teases must be the book. He has sworn off giving “detailed updates” since 2022, when he claimed that he was about 75% of the way through writing, as he does not like fans to hold him to his own estimates of when the book will be done.At this point, even some of the most stalwart voices in the fandom have begun to lose hope that The Winds of Winter will ever come out, or that the series will be finished with the planned seventh book after that.
If not, Martin has said he does not want anyone else to finish the project for him, though several fan-fiction version of the conclusion are already underway.Martin’s published books are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is expected to premiere sometime this year.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is scheduled to hit HBO and Max sometime in 2026.The post George R.R.
Martin’s Latest Winds of Winter Update Doesn’t Sound Good appeared first on ComicBook.com..
