George R.R. Martin Still Isn't Sure When THE WINDS OF WINTER Will Be Released - "I'm 12 Years Late"
After saying he was done “giving updates on Winds of Winter,” George R.R. Martin has offered a new update, and as expected, he still has no idea when he will finish the book.
During a recent interview at an event with Shadowhunters writer Cassandra Clare, Martin joked that 2025 could see him finally finish the book, and while he was joking, I can’t help but think that there’s some actual truth to that. In fact, I’d be surprised if he didn’t finish it by 2025.
When Clare shared that she has a new book coming in March 2025, The Ragpicker King, Martin playfully added, “The really depressing thing is that still may beat The Winds of Winter, who the hell knows?” He went on to say: “I’m 12 years late with Winds of Winter, as we know. I’m just gonna put it right out there, you guys don’t have to pester me about it.”
He’s the one who brought it up in this instance, though, and of course, people are going to pester him about it! People want to see how his version of A Song of Ice & Fire is going to play out! When comparing the book to the Game of Thrones series, Martin said: “Some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.”
Martin went on to say that while there are certain similarities between the novel and television series, such as the grander set pieces in both finales, everything else will end up being different: “And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair. They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show.”
Martin then teased the ending of Game of Thrones explaining that it would be very different from how the A Song of Ice and Fire series ends: “One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice & Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice & Fire. Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all. Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening. And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.”
Martin also previously talked about the process of writing The Winds of Winter, saying: “It’s a big, big book, I’ve said that before. It’s a challenging book. It’s probably gonna be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series. Dance with Dragons and Storm of Swords are the two largest books in the series, they were both about 1,500 manuscript pages. I think this one is going to be longer than that by the time I’m finished with it.”
A couple of years ago, Martin talked about how wearisome it was for him to have people ask him about finishing the book, saying: "Yes, of course I am still working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. I have stated that a hundred times in a hundred venues, having to restate it endlessly is just wearisome. I made a lot of progress on WINDS in 2020, and less in 2021... but ‘less’ is not ‘none.’"
You know, if he really wants people to stop asking him about it, all he needs to do is finish the book.