Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has offered an update on the long-awaited next installment in his fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. The novel, which is titled The Winds of Winter, was originally intended to be the concluding volume in the series, but will now be the penultimate entry. Readers have been waiting for this novel in frustrated anticipation since the release of the previous entry, A Dance with Dragons, in 2011. While Martin has been consistently working on other projects (including the first volume of a history of House Targaryen, released in 2018), he has been consistently vague on settling on a release date for the next novel.
This release delay had unexpected ramifications on the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, which is adapted from his series and began airing in 2011. It's likely that the creators of the series presumed that the next novel would be published before the show reached that point in the series, given that up to that point he had only had gaps between novels last up to 5 or 6 years. However, that did not turn out to be the case and eventually the show split from the source material, concluding with a controversial final season that frustrated most fans of the show.
On his official website, George R. R. Martin shared a message to his fans giving his update on a lot of projects related to A Song of Ice and Fire, including his thoughts on the prequel series House of the Dragon, which has wrapped filming. He confirms that "of course I am still working on The Winds of Winter." However, his notes on his progress are not promising. He says that he worked on the novel "a lot" in 2020 but "less" in 2021. Read the full quote below:
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.”
The world of Westeros, the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, is my number one priority, and will remain so until the story is told. But Westeros has become bigger than The Winds of Winter, or even A Song of Ice and Fire.
Many fan-favorite characters from the Game of Thrones series have been confirmed to make an appearance in the new novel. This includes Sansa and Arya Stark, Theon Greyjoy, and Tyrion Lannister. The novel is also confirmed to feature the Others (known in the show as White Walkers), taking the characters farther North than they've ever been before. The story is also set to resolve some major A Dance with Dragons cliffhangers as well as delivering two battles that were being set up in that previous novel.
George R. R. Martin has been subject to a lot of prodding from Game of Thrones fans across every corner of the Internet about the progress of this particular novel. Unfortunately, this means he is largely immune at this point, so progress will be made at the exact rate he wishes it to. It will be interesting to see if the new novel - whenever it comes out - solves some of the problems audiences had with the polarizing Game of Thrones season 8, or whether it will be similarly shocking.
Source: George R. R. Martin