George R.R. Martin Has a Disappointing Update on The Winds of Winter
The Winds of Winter novel is still not finished.
Game of Thrones fans have been waiting more than a decade for the penultimate installment of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels the hit HBO television series was based upon, The Winds of Winter and now the author has an update on the eagerly-anticipated novel — but it's not a good one. In a recent appearance on Bangcast (via IGN), Martin admitted that he only has 1100 pages written and hundreds more to go and even suggested that he should have written smaller books.
"The main thing I'm actually writing, of course, is the same thing… I wish I could write as fast as [The last Kingdom author Bernard Cornwell] but I'm 12 years late on this damn novel and I'm struggling with it," Martin said after acknowledging he's made very little progress in the last year. "I have like 1100 pages written but I still have hundreds more pages to go. It's a big mother of a book for whatever reason. Maybe I should've started writing smaller books when I began this but it's tough. That's the main thing that dominates most of my working life."
This latest updated from Martin puts progress on the novel pretty much exactly where it was at his December 2022 update when he indicated that he had "another 400, 500 pages" to finish before concluding the novel.
The Game of Thrones Jon Snow Spinoff Recently Also Had a Disappointing Update
The books aren't the only source of disappointing updates for Game of Thrones fans lately, either. HBO exec Casey Bloys recently confirmed that the previously announced Jon Snow spinoff that was in development has yet to be officially greenlit.
"We always have Game of Thrones scripts in development. We greenlit [A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight] in the spring," HBO CEO and chairman Bloys recently shared, per TVLine. "I wouldn't say there is anything else in that world that is close to a green light or anything, but we are always working on different scripts and ideas."
The Jon Snow spinoff would focus on Kit Harington's fan-favorite character, who learned his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, the heir to the Iron Throne, in the final season of Game of Thrones. In the finale, after killing Daenerys, Jon ended up in a life of exile with the Night's Watch and returns to Castle Black and leads the wildlings to return to their lands beyond the Wall. The spinoff series was first announced back in June 2022, though few details about the project have emerged, though the series is said to focus on what came after the events of the Game of Thrones series finale.
What do you think about George R.R. Martin's latest update on The Winds of Winter? When do you think the book will finally be finished? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!