George R.R. Martin regretfully denies the 'crazy story' he's secretly finished the final Game of Thrones books

(Image credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

published 14 May 2019

Has George R.R. Martin finished the sixth and seventh books in his "A Song of Fire and Ice" series, but he's keeping that fact hush-hush until the final episode of Game of Thrones airs, under a secret deal with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss? A Game of Thrones actor suggested as much. "It seems absurd to me that I need to state this," Martin wrote on his blog, but "no, the books are not done. HBO did not ask me to delay them."

Fans of the series have been eagerly waiting for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, since Martin published the fifth book in 2011. The series, which Game of Thrones is based on, is expected to conclude with a seventh book, A Dream of Spring. "I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six," Martin wrote. Not that he's celebrating his slow pace. "NO ONE would have been more delighted than me," he said, if The Winds of Winter had been published "four or five years ago."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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