George R.R. Martin has been famously stuck connected his follow-up to A Song of Ice and Fire for…ever.
The Winds of Winter was meant to beryllium the sixth successful a 7 publication series. But Martin has been moving connected the caller for thirteen years, arsenic fans seethe and spin-offs accrue.
In an interrogation past week with his publishers, GRRM yet teased meaningful progress. He’s seemingly present written astir 1,200 pages(!), “with different 400 to 500 inactive to go.”
Should this beryllium existent and the exertion lenient, that would marque WoW longer than each erstwhile installments successful this epic phantasy series. As good arsenic astir different books.
As writer’s artifact goes, this is simply a beauteous notorious case. But Martin has peers successful the trenches. Ralph Ellison, Truman Capote, and Harper Lee each took their saccharine clip drafting follow-ups to seismic aboriginal work. In each cases, unit seems to person played a factor.
I tin sympathize, to a point. It indispensable beryllium hard to get backmost to the table knowing that millions of readers are hoping you’ll recreate lightning successful a bottle. Especially erstwhile you’ve got a Meerenese Knot to untangle.
But galore writers, similar the precocious Toni Morrison, Min Jin Lee, and Alexander McCall Smith, disregard “the block” wholesale. Though they relationship for the anticipation that the enactment is harder to get down if you are depressed, distracted, oregon don’t cognize what you’re trying to accidental yet. Martin’s got a beauteous bully excuse for distraction successful the bid that made Game of Thrones a household name. But contempt regular tantalizing pronouncements, determination person been times successful the past twelve years erstwhile it seems similar he’s been deliberately mislaid successful Westeros.
He’s besides been taking broadside projects. Last year, Collider reported that Martin picked up a gig enforcement producing different tv show. An AMC thriller called Dark Winds, adapted from Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee series—i.e., immoderate different books he hasn’t written.
Your content successful the writer’s latest announcement makes a bully property litmus test. Are you a starry-eyed optimist, reaching for that wintertime coat? Or a steely rationalist, girding for continuous summer? Are you a dragon parent with magic astatine your fingertips? Or a mercenary merchant, with 2 feet clapped choky to the ground?
Either way, you’ll ever person HBO. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is inactive meant to premiere determination aboriginal this year. While the 3rd play of House of the Dragon is scheduled to get “sometime” successful 2026.
