Will The Winds of Winter Be George R. R. Martin’s Last? His Latest on Delays as a New Game of Thrones Spinoff Gears Up

George R.R. Martin keeps adding projects to the pile while The Winds of Winter keeps... not showing up. If you are wondering what he is actually working on, what he still wants to write, and why the TV side seems to be moving faster than the books, here is the lay of the land.

Where he says the books are headed

The Winds of Winter, book six in A Song of Ice and Fire, has been in the works since 2011. A lot of life and side quests have slowed it down. Despite that, Martin is not treating it like a final chapter. The plan remains to close the main saga with one more book, A Dream of Spring, then keep going with other corners of the world.

On his site, Not A Blog, he spelled out the to-do list in plain English:

"I just need to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, and then do either A DREAM OF SPRING or volume two of FIRE & BLOOD, and slip in a new Dunk & Egg between each of those in my copious spare time."

Translation: he wants to wrap Winds, then either jump to the main-series finale or Fire & Blood volume two, with new Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas slotted between those bigger books.

For Dunk and Egg specifically: there are three novellas out so far, and he has six more planned. So, yes, that is a long runway.

The fan frustration, in one paragraph

Martin knows the delay drives people nuts. He has openly said he missed his own timelines and, in more candid moments over the years, has swung from saying he was about three-quarters done to calling the book a kind of personal curse. What really set some readers off: he managed to publish other Westeros work in the meantime, including Fire & Blood in 2018, and he has said at points that his current writing focus was a new Dunk and Egg novella. Also, the updates have slowed down a lot compared to the early years.

Meanwhile, the shows are sprinting

Martin has insisted The Winds of Winter is a priority. But on screen, Westeros keeps expanding. We have already gotten two seasons of House of the Dragon. The next live-action series on deck is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and there is another in development centered on Aegon’s Conquest.

• The Winds of Winter: in progress since 2011; still unfinished after years of starts, stops, and detours
• A Dream of Spring: intended as the final A Song of Ice and Fire novel after Winds
• Fire & Blood volume two: planned follow-up to the 2018 Targaryen history
• Tales of Dunk and Egg: 3 novellas published to date; 6 additional stories planned; he has said a new Dunk and Egg was a focus
• House of the Dragon: 2 seasons already out
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: showrunner Ira Parker; premieres January 18, 2026 on HBO in the US
• Aegon’s Conquest series: in the early stage of production; in July 2025, writer Mattson Tomlin said Martin is involved

So what is the bottom line?

He is still writing Winds, and he does not plan to stop worldbuilding after it. The book is taking forever, the TV machine is not waiting, and he keeps lining up more novels and novellas. Do you think the spinoffs are soaking up attention that should be going to The Winds of Winter, or is this just how the sausage gets made with a universe this big?