HBO’s New Game of Thrones Gambit Could Delay The Winds of Winter — What Fans Need to Know

HBO just circled a bunch of dates on the Westeros calendar, and if you like dragons, knights, or George R.R. Martin juggling 12 things at once, the next few years are stacked. Short version: 2026 is busy, 2027 keeps the momentum, and 2028 looks like the big wrap-up for the Targaryen family feud.

The rough timeline

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Season 1) — January 18, 2026
  What it is: The Tales of Dunk and Egg adaptation finally hits TV with its first season.
  Creator: Ira Parker
  Produced by: Fevre River Packet Co., Bastard Sword, Grok! Television, HBO Entertainment
• House of the Dragon Season 3 — Mid-2026
  What it is: The next chapter of the Dance of the Dragons rolls out the same year.
  Creator: Ryan Condal
  Produced by: GRRM, Bastard Sword, 1:26 Pictures Inc., HBO Entertainment
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Season 2) — 2027
  What it is: A follow-up to Dunk and Egg is already in development, per Martin, and slated for the following year.
• House of the Dragon — 2028
  What it is: The plan is to bring the Targaryen civil war story to its finale in 2028.

HBO laid out the roadmap on social (yes, including the official Game of Thrones Instagram), and they were clear this is not the final lineup. More live-action projects are still in the pipeline. Translation: there is a lot more Westeros coming than just what is dated right now.

And there is even more brewing

Martin recently said he has multiple spinoffs in development, most of them set before Game of Thrones, with a few sequels also in play. He is not shy about how many are on the board:

There are several in development, five or six series; most are prequels. I am working with other people. Yes, there are some sequels.

If you want the deeper cuts, here are the ones to watch:

- Aegon’s Conquest is being eyed for adaptation.
- Nine Voyages would chart the Sea Snake’s expeditions.
- Ten Thousand Ships has found its writer after years of stops and starts.
- The Golden Empire is moving forward as an animated series.

That is an aggressive slate, and the success of Game of Thrones (and now House of the Dragon) is clearly fueling more. As long as fans keep showing up for HBO and Martin’s team-ups, expect this universe to keep expanding.

So... what about The Winds of Winter?

Here is where the good news for TV becomes the bad news for readers. Martin executive produces these shows and stays involved from the early creative phase through production. In a Time interview, he admitted that he makes progress on the book in stretches, then gets pulled away by show deadlines. With HBO’s multi-year calendar now in place, it does not take a Three-Eyed Raven to see how this could push the book even further down the road.

In short: Martin is trying to split focus between finishing The Winds of Winter and steering the TV machine. The schedule we just got suggests the TV side wins a lot of those days.

One last note for the credits nerds: those production company tags on the 2026 shows (Fevre River Packet Co., Bastard Sword, GRRM, Grok! Television, 1:26 Pictures Inc., HBO Entertainment) are a pretty good tell for how hands-on this operation is. Martin’s fingerprints are everywhere, which is great for continuity — and rough for anyone hoping the next book drops tomorrow.