For 13 years we have been waiting for a new Game of Thrones novel from the template series by George R.R. Martin. But even the fantasy author now admits what fans have long feared.
The fantasy series Game of Thrones has been completed for five years. Only the series finale (or the entire second half of the series) left something to be desired. The consolation for many fantasy fans was the fact that the showrunners had at some point overtaken the book template and that they could still look forward to a presumably better version.
It has now been 13 years (!) since George R.R. Martin published a novel in his Game of Thrones series, A Song of Ice and Fire. And hopes of the sequel, the penultimate part The Winds of Winter, which was promised ages ago, are fading more and more. Especially after the author’s latest comments.
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin admits: He may never finish the fantasy saga
While there have been updates on the status of the follow-up novel The Winds of Winter every now and then over the last 13 years, some have long wondered: If Martin couldn’t finish the sixth novel – let alone the seventh and final part A Dream of Spring – during the pandemic peak with quarantine time, will he ever finish it? Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter this month, GRRM addressed his own concerns and how insensitive some people are in raising the question:
Unfortunately, I’m 13 years late. Every time I say that, I think, ‘How can I be 13 years late?’ I don’t know, it happens one day at a time. But it’s still a priority. A lot of people are writing obituaries on me. [They say], ‘Oh, he’ll never finish’. Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. Right now, I’m alive! I feel pretty spry.
But there is one thing the 78-year-old fantasy master would never do: retire. He’s “not a golfer,” says Martin.
Incensed by the glacial pace of George R.R. Martin’s writing is, by the way, a long-standing tradition. Twelve years ago, just one year after the publication of his last Game of Thrones novel to date, the comedy bards Paul & Storm released a song called Write Like the Wind, which urges the author to hurry up after A Dance with Dragons.
Other projects repeatedly distract George R.R. Martin from his fantasy world
The mastermind behind Game of Thrones, Martin is a man with a wide range of interests and a busy schedule. In recent years, he has repeatedly produced adaptations of his works or at least got them off the ground – including the prequel series House of the Dragon. He also enjoys attending trade fairs, conventions and talk shows to talk about his many projects and owns his own cinema.
Some find his reasons for not getting back to writing infuriating. But even the most cynical fantasy fan might be touched by his latest distraction, which he addressed in 2024. As he revealed in the same THR interview, he produced a series of five short films out of his own pocket. With these, Martin is adapting the works of his lesser-known colleague and friend Howard Waldrop, who passed away in January of this year.
The first of these adaptations is The Ugly Chickens, which is currently doing the festival circuit and could even be an Oscar contender in the short film category. “He was a great writer. There was no one like Howard,” Martin enthuses about his late friend, to whom he was able to show a rough cut of the film shortly before Howard’s death.
