We could’ve sworn that about a year ago, George R.R. Martin promised Game of Thrones fans that the next book in A Song of Ice and Fire would be finished by 2020. But now, the bestselling writer insists he made no such promises.
Fans of the Seven Kingdoms have been waiting for years to read the next chapter in the story, titled The Winds of Winter. But the creator has thus far failed to live up to his commitments and deadlines and the fictional world’s followers are now hopelessly waiting for the author to conclude the narrative in a satisfying way, something that showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff catastrophically failed to do back in 2019 with HBO’s series.
Previously, GRRM had given his readers hope by saying that the book would definitely be complete by the summer of 2020.
“But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for Worldcon, 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,” he said.
In a recent blog post, though, the novelist has called out the “internet assholes” who take his predictions as promises. In his own words, here’s what he stated:
“I will make no predictions on when I will finish. Every time I do, assholes on the internet take that as a ‘promise,’ and then wait eagerly to crucify me when I miss the deadline. All I will say is that I am hopeful.”
Martin doesn’t exactly mince words when it comes to expressing his weariness with the fandom of ASOIAF, who, in fairness, have been waiting nearly 10 years for the next book. To his credit, though, he has made incredible progress on The Winds of Winter, explaining the following:
“What was good about 2020? Besides the election? Well… for me… there was work. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of THE WINDS OF WINTER in 2020. The best year I’ve had on WOW since I began it. Why? I don’t know. Maybe the isolation. Or maybe I just got on a roll. Sometimes I do get on a roll,” he wrote.
The Game of Thrones creator further said that he still needs to write hundreds of more pages to properly finish the novel, so that may take a while yet. Still, it must be great news for fans to know that he’s making headway with the writing aspect of things.
Do you think that Martin will be able to release Winds in 2021, though? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual place below.