'Game of Thrones' Book 6 'The Winds of Winter' Won't Publish This Year
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George R.R. Martin Confirms 'The Winds of Winter' Will Not Arrive in 2018 | THR News
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"Battles, bloodshed, betrayals, love, lust, horror, religious wars, politics, incest, historical revision," oh my!
George R.R. Martin, the author behind the A Song of Ice and Fire saga on which Game of Thrones is based, has promised all of these things and more in his next new book set in the world of Westeros — albeit, not the book so many fans have been waiting for since 2011.
Martin has announced a Nov. 20 publication date for "Fire & Blood," a new book he describes as "imaginary history," and very much "not a novel." (He's rather specific on that point.) The book, which is part one of a planned two-part series, delves into the history of Westeros in greater detail, focusing on the reign of seven different Targaryen kings — including Aegon the Conqueror, the first of Daenerys' ancestors to sit upon the Iron Throne.
a man wearing a hat and glasses© Provided by The Hollywood ReporterHere's the bad news: Martin also confirmed that "The Winds of Winter," the sixth novel (emphasis on novel) in the Ice and Fire series from which Thrones takes its cues, will not arrive in 2018. The most recent installment in the series, A Dance With Dragons, was released in the summer of 2011, leaving fans with the cliffhanger of Jon Snow's fatal stabbing at the hands of the Night's Watch. Nobody knows yet how Martin plans to resolve that story thread and others, though Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss have certainly offered up their version of events.
While it was already suspected, Martin's revelation that "The Winds of Winter" will definitively not see release in 2018 all but confirms a sad inevitability for fans of Martin's source material, first published in 1996: short of a miracle, Game of Thrones will end before the books on which the show is based.
With that said, Martin's new work set in Westeros could very well provide fuel for future live-action adaptations. HBO and Martin are developing numerous Game of Thrones prequels with various different writers, including longtime Thrones writer and producer Bryan Cogman. There's no news yet on which of these prequels will become a reality, if any of them, nor is there news on what the stories will entail. But in his announcement of "Fire & Blood," Martin addresses the obvious question.
"I know I am going to be asked whether [the prequel] show are going to be based on material from Fire & Blood," he writes. "It's a logical question. The only answer I can give is… ah, well, no one is sure yet, and anyway, I am not allowed to say. So let's move that to the side."
Not a confirmation, not a denial — and frankly, "Fire & Blood" has a certain ring to it as a Thrones successor. The content of the series certainly contains some extraordinarily exciting events for those who know their Westeros lore. Aegon's initial conquest could span a full series on its own, let alone inviting other stories from further down the Targaryen line. The second part of "Fire & Blood," which won't see release for another few years by Martin's own account, will likely include histories about "Dunk and Egg," the two heroes at the heart of Martin's Ice and Fire prequel novellas.
What's more, Martin says he plans to use "Fire & Blood" as a means of chronicling "Aegon's Conquest to Robert's Rebellion," the conflict that transformed the shape of the Seven Kingdoms mere years before the start of Game of Thrones. Many have assumed that the story of Robert Baratheon becoming king would never stand as the focus of its own prequel series; perhaps those assumptions are unfounded. Or perhaps this one is.
Regardless, Martin offers this tantalizing tease for fans of his fantasy universe: "[T]here are enough stories here for twenty novels." How about twenty shows? A fan can dream, if not of spring.