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George R.R. Martin wrote on his blog for the first time since February
George R.R. Martin, the writer of the popular A Song of Ice and Fire novels — more popularly known as Game of Thrones — broke a six-month blog silence with a depressing update on his life that has put any hopes fans had for Winds of Winter into context.
The latest song in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is A Dance with Dragons, written by George R.R. Martin and released on July 12, 2011. The sixth novel, The Winds of Winter, has been in development ever since.
If fans hadn’t accepted it before, Martin’s latest comments should certainly hammer home that The Winds of Winter will likely never be published.
On Monday, August 3, Martin posted to his long-running “Not a Blog” blog for the first time since February with a post titled “Better Late Than Never.” The update was written by Martin himself rather than his assistants, who had been handling his blog entries in the meantime.
George R.R. Martin broke a six-month blog hiatus with a personal update about loss, depression, and getting older being “no fun”
While there were no mentions of The Winds of Winter or updates on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, House of the Dragon, or any of the other Thrones spinoffs rumored to be in development at HBO, Martin wrote about the difficult year he experienced on a personal level, detailing battles with depression and the loss of loved ones.
“This year has been… stressful, to say the least. So much has been happening, it’s been overwhelming. Some great things, exciting things. Dreams coming true. But there have been nightmares too,” Martin wrote.
“I have lost friends. Battled sadness and depression. The worst may be yet to come. I turned seventy-seven last September, and I tell you, getting old is no fun. “
I think maybe we should let a tired old man retire and be happy with what we got https://t.co/YD0kJJbxMX
— sleepy cowboy (@HughGriffin2) August 4, 2026
idk how you can read these updates and even think of twow, like this is so depressing to read man https://t.co/rAKdesCl4b
— ex-alicel mental patient (@beIovederen) August 4, 2026
“My friends are all dying. I am battling depression and the worst is yet to come”
jesus man https://t.co/ugRr1mQtSm
— Noxu (@NotNoxu) August 4, 2026
https://t.co/5Bs0ElzGbi pic.twitter.com/MwYbOkKVyd
— PointlessHub (@HubPointless) August 4, 2026
Martin did detail one of his recent “highlights” — A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms earning nine Emmy nominations, including Best Drama. Perhaps more importantly than its Emmy nominations, though, is that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reinvigorated the Game of Thrones fanbase in a way that House of the Dragon has largely failed to do.
Season two of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms began filming this summer and will wrap up production in the coming weeks, putting it on track for its scheduled release in Spring 2027.
As for The Winds of Winter, Martin told a podcast in November 2023 that he had made no “substantial” progress on the book since 2022. As of this writing, the most consistent figure is approximately 1,100 completed manuscript pages, with several hundred more still needed.