Is Winter Finally Coming For A Song Of Ice And Fire Fans?

George R.R. Martin has been famously stuck connected his follow-up to A Song of Ice and Fire for…ever.

The Winds of Winter was meant to beryllium nan sixth successful a 7 book series. But Martin has been moving connected nan caller for thirteen years, arsenic fans seethe and spin-offs accrue.

In an question and reply past week pinch his publishers, GRRM yet teased meaningful progress. He’s apparently now written astir 1,200 pages(!), “with different 400 to 500 still to go.”

Should this beryllium existent and nan editor lenient, that would make WoW longer than each erstwhile installments successful this epic imagination series. As good arsenic astir different books.

As writer’s artifact goes, this is simply a beautiful notorious case. But Martin has peers successful nan trenches. Ralph Ellison, Truman Capote, and Harper Lee each took their saccharine clip drafting follow-ups to seismic early work. In each cases, unit seems to person played a factor.

I tin sympathize, to a point. It must beryllium difficult to get backmost to nan table knowing that millions of readers are hoping you’ll recreate lightning successful a bottle. Especially erstwhile you’ve sewage a Meerenese Knot to untangle.

But galore writers, for illustration nan precocious Toni Morrison, Min Jin Lee, and Alexander McCall Smith, disregard “the block” wholesale. Though they relationship for nan anticipation that nan activity is harder to get down if you are depressed, distracted, aliases don’t cognize what you’re trying to opportunity yet. Martin’s sewage a beautiful bully excuse for distraction successful nan bid that made Game of Thrones a family name. But contempt regular tantalizing pronouncements, location person been times successful nan past twelve years erstwhile it seems for illustration he’s been deliberately mislaid successful Westeros.

He’s besides been taking broadside projects. Last year, Collider reported that Martin picked up a gig executive producing different tv show. An AMC thriller called Dark Winds, adapted from Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee series—i.e., immoderate different books he hasn’t written.

Your belief successful nan writer’s latest announcement makes a bully characteristic litmus test. Are you a starry-eyed optimist, reaching for that wintertime coat? Or a steely rationalist, girding for continuous summer? Are you a dragon mother pinch magic astatine your fingertips? Or a mercenary merchant, pinch 2 feet clapped tight to nan ground?

Either way, you’ll ever person HBO. A Knight of nan Seven Kingdoms is still meant to premiere location later this year. While nan 3rd play of House of nan Dragon is scheduled to get “sometime” successful 2026.