Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin may have been writing The Winds of Winter for 15 years, but he wants fans to know he’s not happy with how late it is.
Speaking to fans at New York Comic Con, Martin reflected on the continued delays to the sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, and said he had always been frustrated when failing to turn work in on time.
“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, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, “and I don’t feel happy breaching contracts or missing a deadline or anything like that.”
Martin also addressed the fact that he has taken on a multitude of other projects instead of finishing Winds of Winter, and defended his right to work on different ideas that also interested him.
In the decade and a half since he finished A Dance with Dragons, Martin has written Game of Thrones spin-off book Fire & Blood, the Rogue Prince & The Princess spin-off novella trilogy, and a series of companion books such as The World of Ice & Fire and The Rise of the Dragon. He’s also contributed to and edited new issues of sci-fi superhero anthology Wild Cards, among others.
Outside the world of books, Martin famously helped build the lore of video game smash hit Elden Ring, and has seen several more of his works turned into TV series and films, such as HBO’s hugely-successful House of the Dragon, plus horror series Nightflyers and fantasy film In the Lost Lands.
But just because all of these film and TV projects are being commissioned, it doesn’t mean they’re things Martin is always actively working on, the author argued, aware of the ire that arises whenever it’s announced he’s doing something else that’s not finishing A Song of Ice and Fire’s final two volumes.
“Every time that happens, and I announce it on my website, half the internet goes crazy,” Martin said. “‘Why the f*** is George R.R. Martin writing this other thing when he should be writing Winds of Winter? What is he doing?’ And I want to say, ‘I did it in 1993, guys. Come on! It was lying in my drawer, and they wanted it, so I sold it to them!'”
That said, he is contributing time to some other projects, such as the aforementioned Wild Cards and the AMC drama series Dark Winds, for which he serves as an executive producer. This summer, it was announced that Martin had also joined the production of an upcoming animated Hercules movie. Addressing this, Martin said his various projects were akin to his children, which he loved equally.
“Yes, I do love Winds of Winter,” Martin concluded. “I’m still interested in it, I’m still working on it, but honestly, I love these other things, too.”
Speaking in December 2024, Martin described Winds of Winter as “still a priority”, though suggested those saying his saga might never be complete could be correct. “A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!”
Craig Barritt/Getty Images for ReedPop.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
