‘The Winds of Winter’ Release Date Happening in 2018 – Here's Why

By Erik Pineda
George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin, author of the 'Song of Ice and Fire' fantasy series that is the basis of the television series 'Game of Thrones.' Martin has confirmed that he is working on the Winds of Winter in his blog.  Photo: REUTERS / Denis Balibouse

Not to second-guess but it will be unsurprising of George RR Martin to finally admit "The Winds of Winter" will not see the light of the day this year. Instead, the book release date will be pushed back in 2018, and the "Game of Thrones" creator has tons of reason to back his decision.

The latest is actually not that different why TWoW will soon be six years in the making - Martin is too distracted and has decided that becoming busier might prod him to finally consider completing the sixth part of his "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel. The last update from Martin indicated he's working on five pilot scripts that could graduate to successor shows to the Game of Thrones.

Per Entertainment Weekly, GRRM is very much involved with the project - he's collaborating with five writers and is tasked to review the outputs prior their submission to HBO. Martin said these undertakings will certainly swamp him, possibly overwhelm him and push him to once again postpone the publication for TWoW.

Then Martin is also onto writing other books apart from the next installment to ASOIAF. According to Blasting News, there are at least three titles that likely will rob Martin's attention from TWoW namely "Wild Card," "The Book of Swords" and "The Sons of the Dragon." So the author is no doubt swamped by too many things on his plate right now that writing 30 on TWoW the soonest is not exactly on top of his list.

And apart from these commitments, GRRM is not one to be dictated on by deadlines. Back in 2016, he caused excitement among ASOIAF fans when he teased at the start of the year that TWoW will be on bookshelves by the end of the year. Nothing of sort happened and Martin finally admitted that deadlines don't work for him.

At the start of 2017, Martin again toyed with the idea that TWoW might just come out within the year and it can be done. But the author quickly reminded himself that he committed the same since 2017 and did not deliver. It's hard to imagine he'll do better this year considering the books and pilot scripts that keep preoccupied.

And of course, the creative juice that is not easy to summon, according to The Guardian. After all, the publication reasoned: "Writers are human beings, not machines, and the crafting of one of Martin's weighty creations isn't something that can be rattled off before tiffin."

And quoting Neil Gaiman, once rumored to give a helping a hand just so GRRM can expedite the submission of The Winds of Winter manuscript, the publication likewise stressed: "George RR Martin is not your bitch." He cannot be forced to write finish on something when he's not up to it.

But the good thing is Martin made sure that work on TWoW remains underway. He did not stop at all unlike in 2016 when rumors swirled that GRRM was feuding with GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss that he decided to take a break from writing duties. Not at the moment.

"I AM STILL WORKING ON WINDS OF WINTER and will continue working on it until it's done," Martin declared on his blog. Now that's certainly a commit but make no mistake, there is no promise of a 2017 release date for The Winds of Winter release date, which may happen if a GRRM clone would suddenly appear.

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