Everything We Know About The Winds Of Winter's Release Date After 12 Years Of GRRM's Delays

Image via MovieStillsDB Published Nov 15, 2026, 9:00 AM EST James Hunt is a writer, editor, and content strategist based in Newcastle, UK. A journalism graduate with an NCTJ qualification, he has well over a decade of experience in online entertainment media. He's had thousands of articles published, received millions of views, and led coverage on everything from the latest blockbuster movies to the Oscars to bingeworthy and prestige TV shows. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The Winds of Winter's release, you may have noticed, is taking a long time. Author George R.R. Martin originally planned for A Song of Ice and Fire to be a trilogy, with Winds as the third and final installment (the others being A Game of Thrones and A Dance with Dragons). Those plans changed as the series grew exponentially, and now The Winds of Winter will not only be the sixth novel in the saga, but, as it stands, the penultimate entry rather than the concluding one (which will instead be A Dream of Spring). Getting there, however, has been another matter. Martin's last book in the main A Song of Ice and Fire series was A Dance with Dragons in 2011, the same year that Game of Thrones launched on HBO. 15 years later, and there's still no sign of the novel being finished. Indeed, more time has passed between the release of book five and now than passed between the release of the first book and the fifth. Martin has released other works related to A Song of Ice and Fire in that time, most notably the Targaryen history book Fire & Blood in 2018 (which became the basis for House of the Dragon). That is also supposed to get a sequel, while there are also plans for more Dunk and Egg novellas, but it's The Winds of Winter that is the priority, so what's going on with it? George R.R. Martin Gave Various Winds Of Winter Release Date Predictions In The 2010s Courtesy of INSTAR Images Martin was initially fairly optimistic about The Winds of Winter's release following A Dance with Dragons. Indeed, in an interview with The Guardian back in 2011, the author expressed hopes for having the sixth book done in quicker fashion than the fifth book was, saying: "Hopefully, the last two books will go a little quicker than this one has, but that doesn't mean they're going to be quick. Realistically, it's going to take me three years to finish the next one at a good pace. I hope it doesn't take me six years like this last one has." Obviously, that didn't happen, with a combination of Martin's schedule and other commitments, and the complicated nature of the story itself, meaning things were delayed. The author would continue to give predictions, of a sort, over the following years: In 2012, he told Adria's News he had written around 400 pages, and that: "I really look forward to publishing it in 2014, but I am really bad for predictions.” In 2015, Martin expressed hope to EW that he could still have The Winds of Winter done for release in 2016 ahead of the show's sixth season. In 2016, Martin wrote on his blog that the book wouldn't be done before Game of Thrones Season 6, and would not be out that year. In 2017, Martin said on his blog that while he hadn't completed as much as he hoped, "I think it will be out this year." In a later 2017 blog post, Martin said that there would be a Westeros book from him in 2018, and maybe even two (this ended up being Fire & Blood) In 2019, ahead of an intended convention appearance the next year, Martin wrote on his blog: "...If I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done." Since then, Martin has notably stopped any such predictions for which year it might be released, though he has given some significant updates on how much of the book has been written. How Much Of The Winds Of Winter Is Actually Written, According To Martin Himself Image via MovieStillsDB Although The Winds of Winter has taken a long time, Martin has written a substantial amount of it. So much so that, were this a smaller fantasy book series, it would almost certainly be done and then some. In October 2022, Martin revealed he was around 75% done with The Winds of Winter, though he avoided giving any predictions on its release date, having disappointed (and been hounded by) fans several times before. He also confirmed, unsurprisingly, that this would be the longest book in the series so far, and that he had not started any work on A Dream of Spring, which will wait until after he's finished with Winds. Later that year, in a December interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Martin revealed that he had written around 1,100–1,200 pages, and had roughly 400–500 pages left to go. In November 2023, however, Martin reiterated he'd written around 1,100 pages of The Winds of Winter, which suggested that much of the year had been spent rewriting portions of the text, rather than new ones, something he's long been wrestling with. All told, that points to The Winds of Winter being roughly 1,500–1,600 pages when Martin is done, and perhaps even so long that it'll need to be split into two volumes for its actual release. Being three-quarters done after over a decade of work could mean that a release date in 2027 or 2028 is feasible, but, of course, the final 400–500 pages are likely some of the most complicated to get right, given it involves wrapping up the story and setting up A Dream of Spring, so that would be a very optimistic outlook at this point. GRRM's 2026 Update On The Winds Of Winter Nicole Kubelka/Future Image/Cover Images 2026 did not bring the book itself, but it did include one early update from Martin on The Winds of Winter's progress, though it wasn't an entirely positive one. He expressed some frustrations with his progress, saying that there are days when he revisits previously written chapters and says, "Oh, f**k, this is not very good." Given in some cases this could be work he wrote years ago, it wouldn't be surprising if a lot of time was still taken up revising things. He also said: "I have to write more Dunk and Egg. There’s supposed to be another Fire and Blood book too. I do think if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish The Winds of Winter pretty soon. It’s been made clear to me that Winds is the priority, but...I don’t know. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for that.” It's an update that feels, in a way, a little sad, and it should be noted that Martin does not owe anyone the book, nor a timeline for its publication: while it is a job, and he has also entered into a contract of sorts with fans who've read the books and expect an ending, the reality is that's not how art works. It's also understandable if Martin wants to work on other things, or that his interests have shifted elsewhere, but that doesn't mean he's given up. Another 2026 update was of a very different sort: an internet post went viral with claims of being a leak that The Winds of Winter was finished, and a release was secretly planned for later in the year. While immediately dubious, it gained so much traction that the book's U.S. publisher, Bantam, had to issue a statement, saying: "The online chatter you are seeing regarding a supposed leak is false." Why Is The Winds Of Winter Taking So Long? There are several factors behind the delays to The Winds of Winter, but the simplest is the sheer scale of the story at this point. Martin has described his writing style as being akin to a gardener rather than an architect, meaning he doesn't have detailed plans for where things will go, but instead sees what grows and develops as he writes, adding bits here, trimming elsewhere. That led to the story becoming bigger and bigger, going from three books to seven, with multiple stumbling blocks along the way. For instance, he planned a time jump after A Storm of Swords, which would've skipped ahead around five years, but then found it didn't work and had to change a lot of things in A Feast for Crows. Similarly, the story revolving around Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen became so tangled that the author himself called it the Meereenese Knot while writing A Dance with Dragons. Those two books became split, meaning the likes of Jon Snow, Dany, and Tyrion Lannister were missing as POV characters in Feast, and the novels released six years apart, so this was already a growing problem before getting to Winds, but things have been massively exacerbated since. It's a sprawling story, and Winds, as the penultimate entry, has to see disparate plot lines beginning to coalesce, which is no easy feat. Or in simpler terms: A Game of Thrones had eight POV characters, and The Winds of Winter could have double that. Another possible issue is the direction the story is headed in. A Song of Ice and Fire was, in part, a response to the state of the high fantasy genre post-Tolkien, as he intended to subvert many of the tropes that had become far too commonplace. That's one reason the saga is so great, but it poses a potential problem with his overarching strategy: this is building to humans vs. the Others, or White Walkers, which is ostensibly a more typical good vs. evil clash, and getting there could be causing some issues too. Of course, it isn't just the story itself that has caused issues. Martin has become far more famous and in demand thanks to Game of Thrones, and the tradeoff for that has been with his time. Whether it's press tours and convention appearances, and the travel that comes with them, or actually working on other projects (he wrote four episodes of Thrones, and has served as executive producer and helped to develop multiple spinoffs at HBO, alongside working on non-Westeros projects such as Dark Winds and Elden Ring), he has been busier than ever since A Dance with Dragons released. And then there is Game of Thrones itself. Martin watched as the show overtook his books, despite hopes to stay ahead, and then reached the end of the story before him. And, to put it mildly, that ending was very controversial. There's reason to think some things will be the same, others widely different, and much of it somewhere in the middle, but seeing his story be told and the response to it will inevitably have had an impact on the writing process. What We Know About The Winds Of Winter's Story MovieStillsDB There are dozens of different storylines and character arcs at play in The Winds of Winter. Even just considering the POV characters, the list could come in at around 20, and that's obviously before everyone else who factors into each of those, with the POVs either confirmed (via Martin's preview chapters) or expected to include: POV Character # Of Chapters In ASOAF So Far (Including TWOW Previews) Jon Connington 2 Aeron Greyjoy 2 Asha Greyjoy 4 Theon Greyjoy 14 Victarion Greyjoy 5 Areo Hotah 2 Cersei Lannister 12 Jaime Lannister 17 Tyrion Lannister 49 Arianne Martell 4 Melisandre 1 Davos Seaworth 13 Barristan Selmy 6 Jon Snow 42 Arya Stark 34 Bran Stark 21 Sansa Stark 25 Daenerys Targaryen 31 Samwell Tarly 10 Brienne Of Tarth 8 Across these are some of the biggest stories of the entire saga so far. The book is expected to get off to an explosive start with a pair of battles: Ice, which will see the culmination of Stannis Baratheon taking on Ramsay Bolton, and Fire, which will see Victarion Greyjoy's forces converge on Meereen. Perhaps the biggest question looming over The Winds of Winter is the fate of Jon Snow, who died at the end of A Dance with Dragons. It's an open secret that Jon will return, but what will be interesting to see is how and when that happens, with theories that he will live as Ghost for a time before being fully resurrected, and what the fallout from that is. There is so much more besides, though: Bran's training as the Three-Eyed Crow; Daenerys Targaryen's story with the khalasar, return to Meereen, and meeting with Tyrion; Arya's continued time in Braavos as Mercy; Littlefinger's scheming in the Vale with Sansa (as Alayne); Davos on Skagos searching for Rickon Stark; the arrival of Young Griff in Westeros, his bid for the Iron Throne, and whether he really is Aegon Targaryen; Cersei's upcoming trial by combat; the resolution to what's happening with Brienne, Jaime, and Lady Stoneheart; Euron Greyjoy's fleet raiding towards Oldtown, and that's not exhaustive. No wonder Martin is taking so long! Why There's Cause For Optimism About The Winds Of Winter's Release Date A lot of A Song of Ice and Fire fans have given up on The Winds of Winter being released, never mind A Dream of Spring. That's understandable, given it has been 15 years and counting. Martin has struggled with it, by his own admission, and it's also not what he is always interested in writing, so why should fans still have any hope at this point? It's admittedly a hard thing to find, but it doesn't fully sit right with me to just completely write Martin off, especially not when a lot of that is directed at his age (yes, he's old, but there are plenty of people older - e.g. Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg - still making incredible art with more to come, and his mind is clearly still sharp). And if he didn't have some passion for the story, even if giving up wasn't an option, he could have churned something out without caring, rather than spending so much time writing and re-writing to get it right. It's possible The Winds of Winter's release date never comes; it's possible it'll be in the next few years; it's possible that leak was correct all along, and it's going to drop on December 31, 2026. In the words of Ned Stark: "In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true … but what if we prevail?" And, well, The Winds of Winter is certainly not certain, that's true... but what if? Publisher(s) Bantam Spectra Genre Fantasy Franchise A Song of Ice and Fire Author(s) George R. R. Martin Genre(s) Fantasy The upcoming sixth and penultimate book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The long-awaited sequel will continue the stories of Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and more characters who were brought to life in HBO's Game of Thrones.