Many years ago, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin promised fans could imprison him if the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, hadn't arrived by a certain deadline – and that deadline is now six years in the past.
"As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce," Martin wrote on his Not a Blog page in May 2019. "But I tell you this – 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. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I'll be fine."
Worldcon was held from 29 July to 2 August 2020, however, thanks to COVID, it was switched from an in-person event to virtual.
Now, as you might have noticed, Martin's July/August deadline passed exactly six years ago, and there's still no Winds of Winter.
In fact, the wait for the sixth book has now surpassed the time it took to release all five books so far.
"I would hate that," Martin previously said of the prospect of giving up. "It would feel like a total failure to me. I want to finish. If I wound up doing everything in my head, this could be the longest book in the series."
But, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showrunner Ira Parker has indicated that Martin is currently working on a fourth Dunk and Egg novella. So, here's hoping that arrives in the near future.
House of the Dragon season 3 is currently dropping weekly on HBO in the US and HBO Max, Sky, and NOW in the UK. You can keep up to date with our House of the Dragon season 3 release schedule.
For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Game of Thrones movies and shows.
