Will George RR Martin ever finish writing 'The Winds of Winter'?

Being a fan of George R.R. Martin has become an exercise in extreme patience, as the acclaimed fantasy author doles out updates for the yet-to-be-seen next installment in the "Game of Thrones" book series, "The Winds of Winter." For decades, the novel has remained one of the world’s most anticipated books, but there is still no clear end in sight for fans waiting on its release. With two new Westeros-based television series running on HBO, Martin has more on his plate than ever before.

As of 2026, it's been officially two decades since Martin first teased the book on his personal blog. In 2006, he laid out a road map and working titles for the last three volumes of his intended seven-book series: "So, 'A Dance With Dragons,' then 'The Winds of Winter,' then 'A Dream of Spring,'" he said. "Shouldn't take me long (hah)." That last line has "aged about as well as any optimistic timeline in fantasy history," said the International Business Times UK. In the twenty years since, Martin has taken an "enormous amount of flack from his fans" for being a "notorious multitasker outrun by prolific fantasy authors and pageturner savants," said Polygon.

Martin may not be finished with the sixth book of the intended seven-book series, but he has taken on some interesting side quests in the meantime. Last year, he published a peer-reviewed physics paper that he coauthored in the American Journal of Physics, and more recently, he helped debut news of a deextinction project featuring a creature most famously known for appearing on the sigil of House Stark. But many readers are beginning to wonder whether the next installment in the acclaimed fantasy series will ever see the light of day. Despite this, Martin seemingly remains confident that the next tale of the Starks and the Lannisters will hit shelves — eventually.

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June 2010: Martin has written four chapters of 'The Winds of Winter'

Martin announced he had moved two completed chapters (told from Arianne's point of view) from "A Dance with Dragons," the fifth book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, into the sixth book, "The Winds of Winter." He described this as "good news for" "The Winds of Winter," as he now had "four chapters done for that one (an Arya, a Sansa, and two Ariannes)."

July 2010: Martin has written more than 100 pages

The following month in a blog update, Martin again said he had moved a chapter, this time focused on Aeron Greyjoy, into "The Winds of Winter" from "A Dance with Dragons." "The good news is that I seem to have written more than a hundred pages of 'The Winds of Winter' already," he said on his blog.

April 2011: Martin predicts 'The Winds of Winter' will take three years to finish

In an interview with The Guardian, Martin predicted he would complete "The Winds of Winter" in about three years, a faster pace than the previous book. "Realistically, it's going to take me three years to finish the next one at a good pace," he said, adding, "I hope it doesn't take me six years like this last one has."

July 2011: 'A Dance with Dragons' is published

Martin published the series' fifth novel, "A Dance with Dragons." It remains the last full "Song of Ice and Fire" installment, and ends with several major cliffhangers, including the apparent death of Jon Snow. The novel hit bookshelves just a few weeks after the "Game of Thrones" season one finale.

That same month, Martin told Entertainment Weekly he would return to working on "The Winds of Winter" soon.

October 2012: Martin has written 400 pages

Martin provided a promising update when he told Adria's News, "I've already written 400 pages of my sixth book, and I really look forward to publishing it in 2014." However, he warned he was "really bad" at predictions, and "of these 400 pages, only 200 are really finished because I still have to revise the other 200 pages, which are in a rough version and I still have to work on them a lot."

April 2015: Martin hopes to release the book by 2016

Despite Martin's 2014 predictions, the book was nowhere to be found more than two years later. But in April 2015, he noted he hoped to finish before the sixth season of "Game of Thrones" aired the following year, telling Entertainment Weekly this "has been important to me all along."

This deadline was significant because season six was the point at which the HBO show began covering the events of "The Winds of Winter" in a major way after passing the published book material. Martin told EW he's doing "anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done," including canceling convention appearances.

January 2016: Martin reveals he missed multiple deadlines in 2015

Martin said it gave him "no pleasure" to report that "The Winds of Winter" was still unfinished. He described how his publishers gave him two separate deadlines the previous year, first in October and then in December, to complete the book in order to ensure it would be out before "Game of Thrones'" sixth season, but "unfortunately, the writing did not go as fast or as well as I would have liked."

In May 2015, the October deadline "seemed very do-able to me," Martin said on his blog. By August, Martin said he felt "confident" he could complete the book by the end of the year but missed both deadlines. "I tried, I promise you," he added. "I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I've now blown the end of the year deadline." Martin told fans he is still "months away" from finishing, "and that's if the writing goes well," though he is "not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over."

January 2017: Martin predicts the book will be out 'this year'

A year later, Martin admitted he was still "not done" with the book and said he hadn't made as much progress "as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now." He added, "I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year)."

July 2017: Martin confirms he'll release 'a Westeros book' in 2018

Martin told fans that he is "still months away" from finishing "The Winds of Winter." And despite his earlier statement that he wasn't writing anything else until "Winds" was done, he is working on the book "Fire & Blood," a history of the Targaryen dynasty. He says he isn't sure whether "Fire & Blood" or "The Winds of Winter" will be published first, though. "I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018 … and who knows, maybe two," Martin writes. "A boy can dream."

April 2018: Martin confirms 'Winds' isn't coming in 2018

A boy can keep dreaming; in an April 2018 blog, Martin confirmed "Winds of Winter" would not be published before the end of the year, so "you're going to have to keep waiting."

June 2018: Martin says 'Winds' is still his 'top priority'

After news that HBO greenlit a pilot for its first "Game of Thrones" spinoff series, Martin assured fans that "Winds of Winter" remained his "top priority," adding that it was "ridiculous to think otherwise."

November 2018: 'Fire & Blood' is published

A new Westeros book did, in fact, come out in 2018, but it was "Fire & Blood," not "The Winds of Winter." "Fire & Blood" eventually serves as the source material for the Game of Thrones prequel series "House of the Dragon".

The month of Fire & Blood's release in November 2018, Martin told Entertainment Weekly he was "mad" at himself for not finishing "Winds of Winter" yet and has "had dark nights of the soul where I've pounded my head against the keyboard and said, 'God, will I ever finish this? The show is going further and further forward and I'm falling further and further behind. What the hell is happening here?'" The Wall Street Journal reported Martin was "in hiding" at an undisclosed remote mountain "he visits when he wants to hunker down to finish a book."

Later, during a Penguin Random House Q&A he said he paused working on "The Winds of Winter" for some time to finish "Fire & Blood" so it could serve as source material for the "House of the Dragon" series.

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May 2019: Martin jokes fans can 'imprison me' if he's not finished by July 2020

Martin jokingly told fans that "if I don't have 'The Winds of Winter' in hand when I arrive in New Zealand" for the World Science Fiction Convention in July 2020, "you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I'm done."

June 2020: Martin still has a 'long way to go'

Just a month before that infamous "imprison me" deadline, Martin said on his blog that he was "spending long hours every day" on the book and was "making steady progress." But "it's going to be a huge book," he added, "and I still have a long way to go." The pandemic gave him an out though, since the World Science Fiction Convention was virtual that year, meaning he technically never physically arrived there.

February 2021: Martin still has 'hundreds of more pages to write'

Martin revealed that he wrote "hundreds and hundreds of pages" of "Winds of Winter" in 2020, calling it his best year on the project yet. "Why? I don't know," he mused. "Maybe the isolation. Or maybe I just got on a roll. Sometimes I do get on a roll." However, Martin cautioned he still had "hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion," adding, "that's what 2021 is for, I hope." But, "I have a zillion other things to do as well," he said.

March 2022: Martin admits he made 'less' progress in 2021

Martin wrote a similar blog near the start of 2022, stating that he'd "made a lot of progress on Winds in 2020, and less in 2021 … but 'less' is not 'none.'" Martin seemed to be easing fans into the idea that "Winds" was no longer his only priority, in contrast to his prior promise to write nothing else until it was finished.

"Westeros has become bigger than 'The Winds of Winter,'" he said, describing the "enormous number of projects" he has on his plate, including a second volume of "Fire & Blood" (which he has already written a "couple hundred pages" of) and more "Dunk & Egg" novellas. Plus, Martin pointed out he was "heavily involved" in all of the "Game of Thrones" spinoff shows, which have taken up a "ton" of his time and attention. "I know, I know, for many of you out there, only one of those projects matters," Martin said. "I am sorry for you. They ALL matter to me."

October 2022: Martin is 'three-quarters of the way done'

Martin provided his most substantial progress update in years during a Penguin Random House Q&A in October 2022, revealing he's "about three-quarters of the way done" with the book.

This same month, on The Late Show, Martin said he had finished writing the storylines of "a couple of" characters. "But it's still going to take me a while," he added. To put this in perspective, these comments come over seven years after Martin felt he could realistically complete the book within a few months.

December 2022: Martin has 400 or 500 pages left to write

Martin got more specific in an interview on Stephen Colbert's "Tooning Out the News," saying he has written roughly 1,100 or 1,200 pages and needed to write "another 400, 500" more. Martin seemed to be referring to manuscript pages, which differ from published book pages. For comparison, Martin said "A Dance with Dragons" and "A Storm of Swords" were about 1,500 manuscript pages, but each was around 1,000 pages when published.

In his Penguin Random House Q&A, Martin suggested part of what's been taking so long is his frequent rewriting. He found himself "re-reading some chapters that I'd written earlier, and I didn't like them well enough, so I kind of ripped them apart and rewrote them."

April 2023: Martin to produce new 'Game of Thrones' spinoff

A second "Game of Thrones" prequel series called "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight" was ordered in April 2023, and HBO says Martin will serve as writer and producer. This series will be based on his "Dunk & Egg" novellas.

But Martin still plans to publish more "Dunk & Egg" stories, so he once again finds himself in a situation where an HBO show could eventually pass his published material. "Before we reach the end of the published stories, I will need to find time to write all the other "Dunk & Egg" novellas that I have planned," Martin said on his blog. "There are … gulp … more of them than I had once thought."

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November 2023: Martin hits another slump

Speaking to Bangcast, the author said he still only had 1,100 pages done, the same amount he had as of December 2022. "Maybe I should've started writing smaller books when I began this but it's tough," he said. "That's the main thing that dominates most of my working life."

July 2024: Martin scolds impatient fans

The author has taken note of the wild speculation and impatience surrounding his progress that has been ruminating online. Last year, he had a meeting with one of his editors in London and "the internet went nuts," Martin said on his blog. But having meetings with his editors was just a part of doing business and did not "signify that some momentous announcement is at hand," he added. When the book is done, "the word will not trickle out, there WILL be a big announcement…where and when I cannot say."

This update came a few months after Martin mentioned "Winds of Winter" while sharing his thoughts on another upcoming GOT spin-off, an adaptation of his novella "The Hedge Knight." "The show will make its debut next year…and if it does well, 'The Sworn Sword' and 'The Mystery Knight' will follow," he said. "By which time I hope to have finished some more Dunk & Egg stories (yes, after I finish 'The Winds of Winter')."

September 2024: Martin gets a few new pages done

In the first spot of positive news in a while, Martin revealed that he had made progress with both "The Winds of Winter" and the second part of his Targaryen history book "Fire & Blood," titled "Blood & Fire." While he was able to add new pages to both projects, he had a more difficult time getting work done. After the recent death of his friend, science fiction author Howard Waldrop, Martin struggled to find "much solace in my work," Martin said on his Not a Blog site. "Writing came hard … I would have liked to turn out a lot more." The various television projects he was working on also "ate up most of those months."

October 2024: Martin makes coy references to the unfinished novel

In yet another blog update, Martin mused about his recent trip to Amsterdam, which inspired the city of Braavos, one of the wealthiest cities depicted in Westeros. Some readers assumed the town was based on Venice because of the many canals. "Did you know that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice?" Martin said. He added that one day, he would like to "write that story about Braavos we were developing for HBO." While the project was shelved years ago, that does not mean he "won’t go back to it… after 'WINDS OF WINTER' is done, of course."

Martin also mentioned the book in an update earlier in October for his "Dunk & Egg" series. Over the years, he has created many characters, all of whom he considers his "literary children," he said, but "Dunk & Egg were special." He intends to finish the rest of their tales "in my copious spare time after I finish 'THE WINDS OF WINTER,' yes, yes, I know."

December 2024: Martin admits naysayers might be right

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about four short films he financed based on the work of his friend, Howard Waldrop, Martin took a moment to address the long-awaited novel. "Unfortunately, I am 13 years late," he said. "Every time I say that, I’m [like], 'How could I be 13 years late?' I don't know, it happens a day at a time." He again noted that the book is "still a priority." He also admitted that some fans had already given up, saying he'd never be finished. "Maybe they're right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!" He added that he could never retire from writing as he is "not a golfer."

April 2025: Martin calls 'TWOW' the 'curse of my life'

The author made headlines for posing with recently born dire wolf pups. The biotech start-up, Colossal Biosciences, said that it had utilized "end-to-end de-extinction technology" to extract DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull, resulting in the creation of three "healthy dire wolf puppies." Martin featured the extinct creatures heavily in his series and was ecstatic about the arrival of the pups. However, he soon faced mockery from fans on social media, who pointed out that we got "real dire wolves" before "The Winds of Winter."

When he was asked about those comments in an interview with Time, Martin said the book was "the curse of my life." There is "no doubt" the book is "13 years late," but he is "still working on it." He has made some progress, and then "other things divert my attention and suddenly I have a deadline for one of the HBO shows, I have something else to do."

It's easy to forget, amid this epic delay, that "The Winds of Winter" won't even end the series, as Martin intends to follow it up with a seventh book, "A Dream of Spring." On his blog, Martin said he plans 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," which should "keep me ahead of" HBO's "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." As book fans know by now, though, Martin's words are like the wind. They may have an effect, but they are unfortunately not quite tangible.

July 2025: Martin hints that the book is nearing completion

In yet another bit of slim, yet good news for fans, Martin insinuated in an interview with Penguin Random House that "The Winds of Winter" had about 1,500 pages completed. Given that this would already make it the longest installment in the series, it seems the book may finally be nearing the finish line — but don't get your hopes up just yet. "It's a challenging book," said Martin, and this is part of the issue. Some of the "point-of-view characters' chapters are already finished, but I still need to interweave their narratives to create one cohesive plot."

It was also revealed that Martin will be producing a film adaptation of "Elden Ring," the popular fantasy video game franchise that he helped create the world for. How much involvement Martin will have as a producer is unclear, though he described the film as "kickass" in a blog post, with "first rate director" Alex Garland at the helm. So while "The Winds of Winter" may still be the priority, "Elden Ring" is just one more can of fuel to add to Martin's fantasy bonfire.

August 2025: Martin confronted by fan

The wait for the book seems to be getting to some fans. At a Seattle comic convention where Martin appeared on a Q & A panel, one "person, claiming to be a 'fan' of the writer's work, told the author he was 'not going to be around for much longer' and asked how he felt about fellow panelist Brandon Sanderson finishing the series," said NME.

The question "led to boos from fellow attendees" and was "denounced by others on the panel," said NME.

October 2025: Martin seems to admit the book is still unfinished

In an interview published on a fan website, Martin gave "perhaps the clearest and most brutal sign yet that the book remains unfinished," said the International Business Times. While he didn't outright admit this, his words seemed to infer that much of the book remains undone.

The comments came in reference to a lawsuit that Martin, along with other authors, filed against OpenAI in 2023, alleging copyright infringement. You "can't outlaw new technology. You can try, people have tried throughout history, but it's here to stay," Martin said. The "most striking aspect" of Martin's comments is the assertion that "no computer will ever write 'The Winds of Winter,'" and his insistence that the book not be written by a machine "serves as a clear indicator that the human writing process is still incomplete."

October 2025: Martin addresses the controversies around the book

Fans were hoping for a big update from Martin when he appeared later in October at a panel for New York Comic Con — but they came away largely disappointed. "I know there's all this controversy about 'Winds of Winter' and how late it is, but I've always had trouble with deadlines," Martin said when asked about the book's progress. "I don't feel happy breaching contracts or missing deadlines or anything like that."

Martin also made note of his other projects that he is working on, including an executive producer role on the AMC drama "Dark Winds" and "Game of Thrones"-adjacent material like "House of the Dragon." Martin does "love 'Winds of Winter.' I'm still interested in it, I'm still working on it, but honestly, I love these other things too," he said.

December 2025: Martin wants to knight fans, but they remain unimpressed

In anticipation of the release of his "Game of Thrones" prequel series, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," Martin made another announcement that ruffled feathers. The author teamed up with HBO to invite fans to compete in a contest that gives winners the chance to attend the LA premiere and be personally knighted by Martin. The campaign, dubbed the #KnightChallenge, is seeking out individuals who embody the spirit of the show's hero, Ser Duncan the Tall, by exhibiting "honor, courage, self-sacrifice," Martin said in an X post. The announcement video "came with a bit of backlash from fans demanding that he should finish 'The Winds of Winter' instead," Fandomwire said.

January 2026: Another prequel series debuts

The new show "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," based on Martin’s "Tales of Dunk and Egg" novellas, premiered on HBO Max on Jan. 18. The show is "meant to be a very different type" of series from "Game of Thrones," said Martin, who serves as co-creator and executive producer, to The Hollywood Reporter. "It turned out very well, and I’m very happy with season one." Showrunner Ira Parker is "terrific and seems to have the same priorities I do — he's trying to do something that's very true to the characters."

Season one is a faithful adaptation of Martin's debut Dunk and Egg tale, "The Hedge Knight," and season two, "which already has been greenlit," will be based on his novella "The Sworn Sword," said The Hollywood Reporter.

There is one potential problem for the show's future, which is starting to seem like a pattern for the author. "The big issue is that I have only written three novellas," and he has "a lot more stories about Dunk and Egg in my fucking head," Martin said to the Reporter. "I've got to get them down on paper." He began writing two at different points in the past year. "One is set in Winterfell," and another is "set in the Riverlands."

January 2026: Martin believes abandoning the book would 'feel like a total failure'

Martin says he has about 1,100 manuscript pages of "The Winds of Winter" finished, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He has blamed the "endless distractions that have come from shifting from a full-time author to a producer and celebrity," said the outlet. The success of the "Game of Thrones" franchise was both the "best thing that could have happened to Martin and the worst thing that could have happened to the greatest story he ever wrote."

When asked if he ever considered giving up the book, Martin said he "would hate that." It would "feel like a total failure to me," he added. "I want to finish." There is also no contingency plan for somebody else to take over if something happens to Martin. "If that happens, my work won't be finished," he said.

January 2026: Martin contemplates cutting back on other projects

"I have to finish the next book," Martin said to The Hollywood Reporter. The actual writing is getting harder, he added. "I'm rewriting. I'm struggling." Perhaps he is "overoptimistic about how quickly I can write these things." Martin is "trying to cut back on anything that I can to clear my decks and get this done."

He believes "if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish 'The Winds of Winter' pretty soon," he said. It's been "made clear to me that 'Winds' is the priority," but sometimes "I'm not in the mood for that." He is "so far behind on everything."

January 2026: Martin says his book won't end like the show did

When asked again about the ending of "Game of Thrones" in an interview at Oxford Union, Martin reassured fans that the conclusion to his book series will not end the same (polarizing) way the television show did in 2019.

"I have said in other places, but I'll just repeat it here. No, the books are not going to end that way," Martin said. "They're not." The audience applauded. When asked if he had any regrets, Martin said his main one is that the "books aren't done yet." By the time the books were sold to HBO, he had "four books already published, and I was making a lot of progress on the fifth book."

Martin was also asked to provide constructive criticism of the show's final season, but he chose not to because it would spoil his own plans for the book ending. "I really can't answer that without giving away what I'm planning," Martin said.

April 2026: false leak about an upcoming release date gains traction

The Westeros universe was riled up as a leak about "The Winds of Winter" made its rounds in a post on X. It featured a screenshot from an anonymous poster suggesting the long-awaited sixth volume of the "Song of Ice & Fire" saga is set for release later this year, with an announcement forthcoming.

As the news spread and the rumor mill buzzed, the U.S. publisher of Martin's book series stepped in to debunk the claims. "The online chatter you are seeing regarding a supposed leak is false," a representative from Bantam Books said to Entertainment Weekly.