George R.R. Martin’s First Update in Months Has Game of Thrones Fans Worried, “Getting Old Is No Fun”

Game of Thrones has become a massive franchise, with multiple successful spinoffs in House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and more new projects already in development, from a stage play (The Mad King) to an animated series (Nine Voyages). However, the core of the series, the books that started it all, have never been completed. The first installment of A Song of Ice and Fire debuted 30 years ago (A Game of Thrones), and fans have been waiting since 2011 for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, as well as the series finale, A Dream of Spring.

However, series creator George R.R. Martin has been ducking deadlines on Winds of Winter for so long now that fans find it hard to keep faith that it will ever get done. And now, with his latest blog update, Martin is giving them even less reason to have hope, but basically admitting that… he’s getting old, quickly.

Game of Thrones Creator Makes A Shocking Reveal to Fans

In a new blog post (Aug 3rd), Martin admits to his fans that “My last blog post went up here on February 19. The posts that came after were made by my mighty minions. I am lucky enough to have a great staff of assistants… though even with their help, I kept falling further and further behind.”

Like a season of Game of Thrones, things don’t get happier from that ominous beginning. Martin goes on to wax poetic about entering the “winter” of his life; not just the waning of his own efforts, but also the mounting losses he’s recently suffered in terms of friends and loved ones dying.

“This year has been… stressful, to say the least. So much has been happening, it’s been overwhelming. Some great things, exciting things. Dreams coming true. But there have been nightmares too. I have lost friends. Battled sadness and depression. The worst may be yet to come. I turned seventy-seven last September, and I tell you, getting old is no fun. But there have been amazing times as well. I suppose that’s just life.   Of course, I knew that.   If you’ve read my stories, you know that.”

If that wasn’t discouraging enough, Martin ended the blog post by hinting that his ability to write is not exactly getting more prolific at this stage of his life. “So much to post about… I will try and catch up some… and my minions will help… but my posts are likely to short and rushed.” And he left out a word at the end there, as if to illustrate the point.

Make no mistake: hearing George R.R. Martin talk about going through dark times is tough. After all, his imagination has been a source of joy and escapism for so many of us, who have found ourselves in similar dark tunnels of life. We wish him better days.

That all said…

Game of Thrones May Never Recover From The Books’ Delay (Neither Will the Fans)

Martin’s inability to complete A Song of Ice and Fire has been one of the biggest frustrations in modern fandom. HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series catapulted the author and his work out of the corners of sci-fi/fantasy fandom and made it one of the most dominant franchises in pop-culture entertainment today. Martin’s disregard for finishing the books arguably led Game of Thrones to suffer the crash-landing it did in the final season, earning the show the infamy of having one of the most divisive (read: hated) endings of any TV show.

It’s even worse for fans of the books, who have been loyal to the world of Westeros long before the TV show premiered. At this point, however, the writing literally seems to be on the (blog) wall: the odds of A Song of Ice and Fire ever being completed by Martin himself seem slim to none. Thankfully, Game of Thrones has already prepared us for such disappointment.

You can stream the TV series on HBO Max.

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