The Winds of Winter Author George RR Martin Slams 'Rude' Health Speculation — 'I Didn't Need That S*'**'

It is a question that has haunted fantasy fans for nearly 15 years, lingering like a long winter that refuses to break. As 2026 begins, the silence from Westeros has grown deafening, and George R.R. Martin, the architect of this brutal and beloved world, is finally speaking out about the crushing weight of expectation.

In a candid and at times weary interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 77-year-old author laid bare the stark reality of his progress — or lack thereof — on the long-awaited The Winds of Winter. For those hoping for a surprise release date, the news is a cold draught: Martin admits he is still sitting on roughly 1,100 pages of the manuscript.

If that number sounds familiar, it is because it is the exact figure he cited back in December 2022 during a chat with Stephen Colbert. Indeed, A Song of Ice and Fire's most recent entry, A Dance with Dragons, arrived in July 2011, during Barack Obama's first term in office. It seems that for every three steps forward, the master of grit takes two steps back into the editing bay.

The Mystery of the Unfinished Masterpiece

The most chilling revelation for fans, however, isn't the page count, but Martin's refusal to allow anyone else to finish his life's work should the unthinkable happen. Unlike the late Robert Jordan, who famously left detailed notes for Brandon Sanderson to complete The Wheel of Time, Martin has no such contingency. If he passes away before the final ink is dry, A Song of Ice and Fire simply 'won't be finished'.

'It would feel like a total failure to me,' Martin confessed when asked about the possibility of leaving the series incomplete. 'I want to finish.' He compared the potential fate of his saga to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the final, unfinished novel by Charles Dickens that has teased readers with its missing conclusion for over a century. For a series that redefined modern television and literature, leaving the Iron Throne in a permanent state of limbo would be a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

The delay isn't due to a lack of ideas, but perhaps too many of them. Martin suggested that if he included everything currently swirling in his head, The Winds of Winter could become the longest book in the entire series, easily eclipsing the 1,056-page hardcover edition of A Dance with Dragons.

The author noted that he frequently finds himself caught in a cycle of rewriting; he might complete a Tyrion Lannister chapter he loves, only to realise it changes the entire trajectory of the book and must be discarded or transformed into a series of dreams. The logistical nightmare of juggling dozens of viewpoint characters — many reintroduced after being sidelined in A Feast for Crows — has turned the writing process into a Herculean task of narrative architecture.

Martin Slams 'Rude' Health Speculation and Mourns a Legend

While the world waits, the online discourse has often turned toxic. Martin didn't hold back when addressing fans who morbidly speculate about his age and health, or those who suggest he is 'lying' about his progress. 'They say, "He lied to us, he is going to die soon, look how old he is." I really didn't need that shit,' he remarked with palpable frustration. 'Nobody needs that shit.'

This sense of mortality has been sharpened by the recent passing of many close peers, including Hollywood icon Robert Redford in September 2025. Redford, who came out of retirement for a poignant cameo alongside Martin in the AMC series Dark Winds, shared a final on-screen moment that now feels like a haunting omen. In the scene, which was filmed on a closed set at Redford's request, Redford's character ad-libbed a line that wasn't in the script, telling Martin: 'George, the whole world is waiting, make a move.'

Martin described the loss of Redford as 'so f***ing weird', a sentiment echoed by fans who see the passage of time reflected in the aging of their literary idols. Despite the distractions of producing spin-offs like House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — the latter of which premieres on Jan. 18, 2026 on HBO in the US and Jan. 19 on Sky Atlantic in the UK — Martin insists the hunger to finish remains.

He even revealed he has begun work on two new Dunk and Egg adventures — one set in Winterfell titled The She-Wolves of Winterfell and another in the Riverlands called The Village Hero — though his focus remains fixed on the main series. He likened his current state to Dune author Frank Herbert, who felt 'locked in' by his success but kept writing nonetheless. 'I love the world and the world-building,' Martin concluded. 'But, yes, I do [feel motivated].'