George R. R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter Progress

George R. R. Martin has been working on The Winds of Winter—the sixth novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series—for nearly 15 years, and progress still appears to be stalled. With multiple other projects also in motion, fans remain concerned that the Game of Thrones story may never reach the printed ending readers have been waiting for.

Announcement: The Winds of Winter still isn’t moving

Martin has reportedly been writing The Winds of Winter for almost 15 years. The original plan was for him to submit the manuscript to his publisher by the end of 2015, but that deadline has long since passed. Over time, Martin has acknowledged that it’s difficult for him to bring together the many plotlines he has set up across the series.

He is said to still write actively, but he also regularly destroys portions of manuscript pages because he isn’t satisfied with them. The work is currently described as stuck at roughly 1,100 pages, with the manuscript not growing in any meaningful way.

Practical impact for fans: the book-and-series timeline keeps slipping

Because The Winds of Winter would be followed by an additional volume, some readers worry that Martin may never complete the overall arc. The concerns intensified as far back as 2019, when fans were already waiting for the sixth book and felt that Martin wasn’t making notable progress.

Martin has also admitted that he struggles to reassemble the series’ “many opened storylines” into a satisfying conclusion—an issue that directly affects how quickly he can draft and revise toward an ending.

Platform scope: ongoing franchise work beyond the books

While fans focus on the next novel, Martin’s schedule appears even more crowded than before. The research notes that he has continued pursuing additional projects, including two spin-off series, a theater piece, and two book series (about “the hedge knight” and “the dance with dragons”) that also remain unfinished.

What comes next: a long-promised “lockup” deadline is already overdue

In 2019, Air New Zealand ran a promotional stunt tied to The Winds of Winter. The airline invited Martin to New Zealand to find time and inspiration, with the flight arranged by the company. In a blog post at the time, Martin said the idea was tempting and made a pointed promise to fans: if he hadn’t finished the book by summer 2020, he would provide formal written consent to be locked in a small hut on an unwelcoming volcanic island near New Zealand, with only the view of a “sour lake.”

Martin also suggested that he shouldn’t leave the island until the book was finished. However, that deadline is now far in the past—meaning the “lockup” timeline described in the stunt is already roughly six years overdue based on how the note frames it.

What changed

The Winds of Winter has reportedly remained stuck around 1,100 pages and is not growing.
Martin has continued to cite difficulty tying together the series’ many established plotlines.
Martin’s broader workload includes two spin-off series, a theater production, and two additional unfinished book series.
The 2019 Air New Zealand “volcanic island” deadline tied to summer 2020 has already passed by about six years.

With the next novel still not finished and additional franchise commitments continuing, the realistic outlook for how soon readers will get The Winds of Winter remains uncertain—leaving the question of how Game of Thrones concludes in print still unresolved.