George R.R. Martin Will Both End ‘The Winds of Winter’ or Die Attempting

The George R.R. Martin profile in yesterday’s Hollywood Reporter is stuffed with enjoyable tidbits concerning the writer, together with his pleasure over A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, his ideas on whether or not or not that Jon Snow Game of Thrones sequel series will ever occur—and a tiny drop of tea about his feud with Home of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. However anytime Martin sits down for questions, the inevitable topic will all the time come up: what’s the newest on The Winds of Winter?

First issues first. Martin remains to be smarting over that fan who requested him finally 12 months’s WorldCon if he’d enable one other writer to complete the long-awaited subsequent A Tune of Ice and Hearth ebook, given Martin’s advancing age (he’s 77). It was insulting again in August, and it nonetheless is now: “I actually didn’t want that shit. No one wants that shit.”

Nonetheless, it’s clear that Martin shares his followers’ consciousness of the ruthless passage of time. He informed THR he has 1,100 pages—sure, that’s the identical quantity he cited back in 2022 and 2023, although it sounds just like the content material of these pages has shifted considerably.

“I’ll open the final chapter I used to be engaged on and I’ll say, ‘Oh fuck, this isn’t superb.’ And I’ll go in and I’ll rewrite it. Or I’ll determine, ‘This Tyrion chapter just isn’t coming alongside, let me write a Jon Snow chapter.’ If I’m not interrupted although, what occurs—a minimum of up to now—is ultimately, I do get into it,” he informed THR.

Even with out interruptions, it’s sluggish going. In the course of the pandemic, Martin retreated to an isolated cabin for some centered writing time; although he informed THR that resulted in plenty of new materials, it additionally opened the door to second-guessing. “I wrote a Tyrion chapter I simply beloved. Then I checked out it and mentioned: ‘I can’t do that, it would change the entire ebook. I’ll make this right into a sequence of goals. No! That doesn’t work both …’”

However he’s nonetheless very decided. Giving up on The Winds of Winter just isn’t an choice. “It could really feel like a complete failure to me. I need to complete,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, that WorldCon fan’s query additionally re-entered the interview right here. Martin isn’t going to interact one other author to complete the ebook. That won’t occur.

However what if Martin does die—or grow to be incapacitated ultimately—earlier than he completes the story? Properly, then, “My work received’t be completed,” he mentioned, and supplied Charles Dickens’ unfinished final novel as a degree of comparability: “It’ll be like The Thriller of Edwin Drood.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that! And whilst you wait (and wait) for the following Winds of Winter replace, take a look at A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms—premiering January 18 on HBO and HBO Max.

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