The "Game of Thrones" is reportedly a done deal, likely to give George RR Martin more time to work and focus on finishing "The Winds of Winter," setting the stage for an imminent release date of the sixth instalment of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel. The latest reports said HBO's hit fantasy series will wrap up with 73 episodes, six in the last season.
Game of Thrones ending with Season 8 in 2018 would mean free time for GRRM to work on other projects. But according to Entertainment Weekly, the GoT creator can actually focus on other things ahead of the Game of Throne's final season offering. That's because the show plan is pretty much finalized, indicating no further active involvement from Martin is required.
EW said sources have confirmed there will be 13 episodes to go for Game of Thrones, distributed in the last two seasons - seven for Season 7 that HBO will start airing July 16 and another six for Season 8, the broadcast schedule of which remains unknown. GoT consisting of 73 episodes spread over eight years of television run has long been planned by the Game of Throne showrunners.
From Day One, David Benioff and Dan Weiss have plotted the GoT roadmap and "have known for years precisely how many episodes were ideally left in their intricately constructed HBO fantasy epic," the report said. But while the last two years of Game of Thrones were whittled down to 13 episodes, there were indications the total running time will last no less than 15 hours.
Rumors said starting with Season 7, every Game of Thrones episode will have extended running time or at least longer than what were seen in the past seasons.
If true that work on GoT is about to wind down, though EW said Benioff and Weiss (and presumably with some amount collaboration coming from GRRM) have yet to write the show's final hours, then soon Martin is likely to find more time and finally put the finishing touches on TWoW.
The last update from the author indicated, "I AM STILL WORKING ON WINDS OF WINTER and will continue working on it until it's done." So it's quite clear Martin has yet to commit on a definite publication schedule for the book. That's like saying it will be a miracle to see TWoW getting a release date this 2017.
But at least in the same blog, Martin dropped clues on some of the things to expect. More likely, GoT Season 7 will run its full course and the book will remain out of sight, and it's too early to tell if Season 8 will air next year and The Winds of Winter will still wait to be printed.
What's fairly certain, according to GRRM, are some of the elements to be found on the book. One of which is the arc that discusses Robert's Rebellion, which many GoT fans believed was the precursor to the Game of Thrones storyline. In his blog, Martin said Robert's Rebellion will be found within ASOIAF but the author failed to clarify if the topic will be part of The Winds of Winter on release date or the novel's last instalment - "A Dream of Spring."
