By now, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire have become seasoned veterans of waiting… over a decade, in fact, for George R.R. Martin’s long-promised novel The Winds of Winter. And in a new interview with Time, Martin pulled no punches when asked about the book’s still-ongoing development.
“That’s the curse of my life here,” Martin admitted. “There’s no doubt Winds of Winter is 13 years late. I’m still working on it. I have periods where I make progress and then other things divert my attention.”
That mix of frustration and faint optimism is familiar territory for anyone who’s been following the saga behind the saga. The “other things” pulling his focus are, of course, the ever-expanding Game of Thrones TV universe.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is arriving on HBO this summer, House of the Dragon Season 3 is in development, and Martin recently teased another upcoming project, though he clarified it’s not Winds of Winter.
“I have a deadline for one of the HBO shows,” he said. “I have something else to do. But the two things are not connected.”
Still, Martin pushed back against the idea that his involvement in these spinoffs is the main reason for the delay. Fans, he says, are getting the wrong idea about how his time is being spent.
Martin explained: “[Fans] seem to overestimate how much time I’m putting in these things.” So, I guess that means he has more time to work on The Winds of Winter than we thought. He’s just not using the time to write it.
So where does that leave us? The book isn’t finished, but the winds are still blowing… just very, very slowly.