The Winds of Winter Update: George RR Martin Reveals Reason Why He Can't Finish TWOW

George RR Martin has admitted he is 'so far behind on everything' and sometimes 'not in the mood' to work on The Winds of Winter.

He told The Hollywood Reporter in a new profile published this week that competing projects and his own writing habits are still slowing progress on the long‑delayed novel.

The Winds of Winter has hovered over fantasy readers for nearly a decade and a half. The sixth volume in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, it is meant to carry the story beyond the events adapted in HBO's Game of Thrones and towards a different ending than the controversial television finale.

Martin first teased the book in 2010, and over the years has repeatedly assured fans that he is still working on it, voicing exasperation on his blog at readers who question whether it will ever appear.

The latest update is unlikely to calm that anxiety. Martin told The Hollywood Reporter he has been struggling to balance multiple commitments, citing other parts of the fictional universe that are also demanding his attention.

'I'm so far behind on everything,' he 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.'

The casual 'not in the mood' line has ricocheted around fan circles because it appears to collide directly with Martin's longstanding pledge that nothing matters more to him than finishing the main series. It adds another layer to an already fraught relationship between the author and sections of his readership, some of whom have become openly hostile over the years.

The Winds of Winter And A Story Still In Flux

It can be recalled that Martin has always insisted his books will diverge from HBO's ending. Game of Thrones concluded in 2019 with what many viewers saw as a rushed final run, and since then, the author has repeatedly suggested that several major plot points, including who lives and who dies, will be significantly different in The Winds of Winter and the planned final book, A Dream of Spring.

Yet in the new interview, Martin concedes that much remains undecided even at this late stage. He admits he is still weighing which characters will survive, and acknowledges that the reaction to the television series has seeped into his thinking.

'I was going to kill more people,' he said. 'Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending. I don't see a happy ending for Tyrion. His whole arc has been tragic from the first. I was going to have Sansa die, but she's been so appealing in the show, maybe I'll let her live.'

Those remarks are striking. They suggest that, for all Martin's protestations that the novels and TV series are separate entities, audience response to Game of Thrones and to specific performances is now influencing the fate of characters on the page. It is unclear how far he intends to deviate from his original outline, and nothing about the final plot is confirmed.

Inside Martin's Struggle To Finish The Winds of Winter

Martin also offered a glimpse into what actually happens when he sits down to write The Winds of Winter, and it sounds far less like a steady march towards the end than readers might hope.

'I will open the last chapter I was working on and I'll say, 'Oh fuck, this is not very good,' he told The Hollywood Reporter. 'And I'll go in and I'll rewrite it. Or I'll decide, 'This Tyrion chapter is not coming along, let me write a Jon Snow chapter.' If I'm not interrupted though, what happens — at least in the past — is sooner or later, I do get into it.'

The description will ring painfully familiar to anyone who has wrestled with a large creative project past the point of enthusiasm. It also underscores just how sprawling The Winds of Winter has become, with dozens of viewpoints and intersecting storylines that must align with past books while still surprising readers who already know the show's broad roadmap.

There is, hovering over all of this, the question of time. One fan infamously suggested at a Worldcon panel that Brandon Sanderson should be asked to finish The Winds of Winter because Martin was 'not going to be around for much longer', a remark widely condemned as cruel, but also a sign of how desperation has tipped into morbid speculation. Martin, now in his seventies and heavily involved in HBO spin-offs such as House of the Dragon and the forthcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is under pressure not just to finish one book, but to close out an entire cultural phenomenon.

Martin says the book remains his top priority in theory, yet admits he is often not inclined to work on it. He is juggling further 'Dunk and Egg' novellas and a second volume of Fire and Blood. The ending is still in flux, with character deaths and survivals being reconsidered, in part due to the HBO series' impact. And his own working process, constantly revising, hopping between characters, and battling self‑doubt, appears to be slowing him down.

For fans waiting since 2011, those admissions may feel like both an explanation and an excuse. Martin is still writing The Winds of Winter. He just has not yet written his way out of it.