It has been eight years so far since the announcement of the sixth book in George R. R. martin’s successful A Song of Ice and Fire series. The Winds of Winter has had several predicted release dates, including 2017, late in 2018, and early in 2019. All of these dates have come and gone and the book has not been released. However, Martin has now given another possible release date for the next installment in his epic fantasy series.
According to Business Times , Martin has said that he aims to have The Winds of Winter finished and published on or before July 2020. Of course, whether or not this predicted release date will go the same way the others did remains to be seen.
As yet, Martin has stated that The Winds of Winter is yet to be completed, meaning that there are less than 12 months until the potential release date. And, considering the size of the previous novels, that is not a great length of time when it comes to editing and getting the book ready for publication.
As for why it has taken so long for Martin to complete the upcoming book in his hit series, there are many and varied reasons. As Screen Rant points out, since the inception of the A Song of Fire and Ice series, the story has evolved somewhat and become much more complicated and layered than the author originally planned. In addition, it is possible the latest book may contain as many as 15 to 20 point-of-view characters.
The Game of Thrones universe is constantly expanding since the original book series was started. Besides the original hit TV series, which managed to go beyond what is already written in the book series, a new prequel series is in development with HBO as well as the potential for other spinoff series based in the same universe.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , the pilot for the Game of Thrones prequel series has already been filmed. However, it is still unclear yet if it will be greenlit to a series. Considering the huge popularity of the TV series, though, it seems likely that HBO will go ahead with this series which is to be set thousands of years prior to the events that unfolded in the original series.
Once The Winds of Winter is finally released and read by fans, they then can look forward to waiting for the release date of the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dream of Spring .