The Winds of Winter Progress: George RR Martin Offers Good News—and a Hard Truth
At New York Comic Con, George R.R. Martin reassured fans the fire for The Winds of Winter still burns—but with a stack of side projects in play, the long winter isn’t ending anytime soon.
George R.R. Martin popped up at New York Comic Con with an update on The Winds of Winter. Well, more of a temperature check than a progress report. The gist: he still cares, he is still writing, and no, he is not dropping his other projects to sprint to the finish line. If you were hoping for a page count or a date, you did not get one.
What he actually said
"Yes, I do love Winds of Winter. I’m still interested in it, I’m still working on it, but honestly, I love these other things, too."
That was at NYCC, echoed in Entertainment Weekly. And in a separate note to The Hollywood Reporter, he framed his focus this way:
"I’m still writing. The [sixth] novel, the 'Dunk and Egg' story — those are what I’m focused on."
The book that will not stop being delayed
The Winds of Winter, the sixth A Song of Ice and Fire novel, has technically been in the works since 2011. The delay has gotten ugly over the years, from hate mail to fans openly speculating about his death. After Game of Thrones wrapped, a lot of people assumed he would finally lock in and finish — partly because he missed the self-imposed deadline to deliver the manuscript before Season 6 aired, and partly because the blowback to the final season ramped up demand for a more definitive ending on the page. Instead, the TV backlash did not exactly light a fire. If anything, it seems to have slowed him down.
What he has been doing instead of only writing Winds
Martin is not exactly idle between chapters. He has a full slate, and he is not apologizing for it. His words, not mine: he loves these other things too. Here is the rundown:
- 2018: Published Fire & Blood, the Targaryen history he fast-tracked to feed a TV adaptation pipeline.
- 2021: Signed on as an executive producer for AMC’s Dark Winds; the show premiered in 2022.
- Ongoing: Continues editing the Wild Cards anthology series (he has noted this on Not A Blog).
- 2024: Produced and even helped finance a short film honoring his late friend and mentor Howard Waldrop.
- Now: Prepping HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the upcoming spinoff based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg.
So... how far along is Winds?
Depends on when you ask. To Collider not long ago, he said the book "is coming pretty well, but I wish it would come faster." In August, another author publicly put his progress at about 70%. Back in 2022, Martin himself said he was roughly three-quarters done — 75%. Yes, the math on that looks backwards, which is not the direction anyone wanted.
At 77, he has also stopped making promises about dates. No more self-imposed deadlines. These days, the standard answer is that he is working on it and he still cares, and for some fans, that is enough.
Quick series refresher
A Song of Ice and Fire so far: A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), A Feast for Crows (2005), A Dance with Dragons (2011). The Winds of Winter: TBA. A Dream of Spring: also TBA.
The bottom line
Martin is saying two things at once: Winds matters to him, but he is not shelving the rest of his universe (or his non-Westeros passions) to finish it. If you want the book yesterday, that is frustrating. If you are into the broader ecosystem — Dunk and Egg, Dark Winds, Wild Cards — you are getting plenty. As for a release date for Winds? Still a mirage on the horizon.