A Song of Ice and Fire
George R.R. Martin has an update on Winds of the Winter after 12 years of waiting
The author behind Game of Thrones has been writing the next book in the series for over a decade, and now we have an update on its status.
When the Game of Thrones series started its production, uncertainty began to reign in Westeros. A year after the premiere of the first season, A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire saga, was published. However, as the years passed, the following novels did not seem to advance, so the series had to go at its own pace. The wait has been so long that more than a decade has already passed. But George R.R. Martin just updated the status of the project... and the news isn’t too rosy.
The writer has mentioned it in the most recent entry on his official blog, where he announced that work has progressed a bit: “yes, yes, of course, I’ve been working on WINDS OF WINTER. Almost every day. Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more. Making steady progress. Not as fast as I would like.. .certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless.”
How does the strike affect The House of the Dragon and the Game of Thrones spin-offs?
George R.R. Martin is not optimistic about the development of the situation. The writer and screenwriter, who is part of the WGA, has supported the strike and shared his feelings and the status of his projects. “No one can be certain where we go from here, but I have a bad feeling that this strike will be long and bitter. It may get as bad as the infamous 1985 strike, though I hope not.”
Martin’s contract with HBO was suspended on June 1, and as such, the various spin-offs of Game of Thrones have been interrupted for the moment.
On the second season of House of the Dragon, Martin recalled that the series was still filming. “I am told the second season is half done. ALL of the scripts had been finished months before the WGA strike began. No writing has been done since, to the best of my knowledge. HOT D is shot mostly in London (and a little bit in Wales, Spain, and various other locations), which is why filming has continued. The actors are members of the British union, Equity, not SAG-AFTRA, and though Equity strongly supports their American cousins (they have a big rally planned to show that support), British law forbids them from staging a sympathy strike. If they walk, they have no protection against being fired for breach of contract, or even sued.”
Source | George R.R. Martin’s Not a Blog