Let me be clear: I do not regret the time I spent watching Game of Thrones, or the time I spent analyzing, enjoying and reading theories about those characters. I enjoyed all of it, up until the end of the series, which sucked ass. The end of the series was so bad, it made me happy that I never invested in George RR Martin’s books. I also swore off the spinoff TV shows within the GoT/Westeros universe. As such, I’m not watching House of the Dragon, even though I hear that it’s good (and I also hear that it has sh-t the bed). Well, HBO has a new series based on Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I won’t be watching, but god bless. To promote the latest series, Martin gave a lengthy interview to the Hollywood Reporter. As you might have guessed, he is no closer to finishing The Winds of Winter or the final book in the Ice and Fire series, A Dream of Spring. Martin is 77 years old, not in the best of health and he absolutely refuses to just FINISH THE BOOKS. Some highlights from this THR piece:
One of his big worried during GoT’s run: Martin’s…worry was one he’d had since 2011, when Thrones premiered and his last Ice and Fire novel, A Dance With Dragons, was published. He still needed to write two more books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, to finish his saga, and the clock was ticking. The HBO show’s storylines were about to surpass the narrative in his books. “I have to finish the next book,” Martin fretted. “The actual writing [is getting] harder. I’m rewriting. I’m struggling. Maybe I’m overoptimistic about how quickly I can write these things. I’m trying to cut back on anything that I can to clear my decks and get this done …”
He’s not dying: “I never thought I’d live to be 77. I’m old, so I have some old-people stuff. My lower back hurts sometimes. I don’t like to stand around. But I feel OK. Maybe you should make that your headline: ‘George R.R. Martin Is Not Dying.’”
He’s happy with the new show: “The show is meant to be a very different type,” says Martin, who serves as co-creator and exec producer. “It turned out very well, and I’m very happy with season one. The casting was a home run. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is terrific and seems to have the same priorities I do — he’s trying to do something that’s very true to the characters. This doesn’t have any dragons or big battles. It has a field and a lot of tents and some horses.”
He also needs to write more Dunk & Egg stories: “The big issue is that I have only written three novellas, and I have a lot more stories about Dunk and Egg in my f–king head. I’ve got to get them down on paper. I began writing two at various points in the past year. One is set in Winterfell and one set in the Riverlands …”
His issues with making GoT sequels: Martin long has resisted sequels to Thrones because the ending of his Ice and Fire books is not going to align with the show and he wants to avoid further canonizing Thrones‘ controversial ending — even though he hasn’t written his own yet. “[The book’s ending is] going to be significantly different. Some characters who are alive in my book are going to be dead in the show, and vice versa.”
His books are his babies: Martin has made something else consistently clear: He believes book adaptations — not just his own — should be as faithful as possible. Martin is childless and has said he considers his characters to be his children. If another writer wants to make a major change to one of his brood — or remove one from a story altogether — he wants to know why, and the reason should make sense.
Martin was deeply hurt when a fan suggested he might die soon: The WorldCon panel was taking audience questions when somebody asked Martin if he would let another writer finish The Winds of Winter because “you’re not going to be around for much longer.” The audience booed. Martin felt like he’d been slapped. When he looked online to see the reaction, he was dismayed to find some fans saying he deserved it. “They say, ‘He lied to us, he is going to die soon, look how old he is,’ ” Martin says. Even now, months later, the author looks rattled. “I really didn’t need that sh-t,” he says. “Nobody needs that sh-t.”
The end of Ice and Fire. It becomes clear that the details of his story’s conclusion, like so much of the saga, remains uncertain. “I was going to kill more people,” he muses. “Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending. I don’t see a happy ending for Tyrion. His whole arc has been tragic from the first. I was going to have Sansa die, but she’s been so appealing in the show, maybe I’ll let her live …I don’t know. I think I’ll stay home. I have to write more Dunk and Egg. There’s supposed to be another Fire and Blood book, too. I do think if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish The Winds of Winter pretty soon. It’s been made clear to me that Winds is the priority, but … I don’t know. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for that.” He sighs. “I’m so far behind on everything.”
Granted, if I was 77 and rich, I would procrastinate and do f–k all as well. But wow, he’s really screwing over his fans. I realize this is a tricky situation for everyone involved, especially HBO’s executives and show runners. My solution? Hire someone – probably a woman – trustworthy, patient and creative to sit with Martin and squeeze out the details for everything he “plans” to write. Take copious notes, help Martin come up with outlines, work out the general structure of all of these stories, and maybe even draw up some storyboards with Martin’s input at every level. The best case scenario is that he lives long enough to write everything and you’ve just sent someone there to hold his hand and help him figure it all out. But it would also be a failsafe in case his health declines suddenly and HBO is left holding the proverbial bag. As for the last two books of the Ice and Fire series… my idea of a helper/creative/manager would work for that too, although I find it hard to believe that Martin’s publishers and editors haven’t gotten involved. Does his publisher have a plan in place for what happens if Martin never finishes the books?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of THR.
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- Berlin premiere of HBO Max-Series ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ in Zoo Palast Featuring: George R.R. Martin Where: Berlin, Berlin, Germany When: 13 Jan 2026 Credit: Nicole Kubelka/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
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- Berlin premiere of HBO Max-Series ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ in Zoo Palast Featuring: George R.R. Martin Where: Berlin, Berlin, Germany When: 13 Jan 2026 Credit: Nicole Kubelka/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
My now ex husband read those books 17/19 years ago. I told him then that there was an 11 year gap (or some wild number) between two of them and he should probably not get invested. 🤷🏾♀️
I’ve been hoping and waiting for many years for the conclusion to A Song of Ice and Fire, but I would rather it go unfinished than someone besides George write it. Unless he has a lot of notes and story fleshed out., even then I’m not sure. Fingers crossed for 2027 The Winds of Winter/ 2029 A Dream of Spring
Same. Seasons 7 and 8 of GoT showed me that no one but George can be trusted to flesh out his characters and plot lines.
I wouldn’t go that far. What those seasons told me was D&D certainty shouldn’t have been trusted but someone else, like an actual fantasy author, may do well.
To me the terrible TV ending to me didn’t display anything except that George has a problem with massively overarching plots and too many characters and too many side plots, and even he doesn’t know how to resolve it now (as he himself has admitted), so I don’t know why anyone thought D&D would do any better.
As much as D&D are terrible they started the series with George’s promise that he would have material for them when it ended. The early seasons based off of existing material are much better and that is why. And George not being able to finish is also why he pressed for more seasons which D&D said from the start they didn’t want to do.
I looked this up -I don’t think he’s published anything actually new for years? Let alone The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring. He’s promised all sorts of things like new Dunk and Egg stories, Volume 2 of Fire and Blood, nothing has come forth.
I think he’s done with writing and is now just working on TV as he has always wanted to do since the 80s anyway. And now some of his editions are absolutely using AI illustrations with his knowledge (he denies this but it’s obvious they are AI despite his opposition to it).
Terrible wasted legacy imo.
Crystal- l I get what you’re saying but I do think there was _a lot_ more D&D could have done. For example, they wrote the last season themselves and declined to add 2 more seasons- it all would have been vastly improved by hiring other writers and giving themselves more time. Even if that meant they needed to hire a Showrunner under them because they were burned out. The reality is, they wanted to move on to Star Wars so they rushed GOT to a terrible end and it didn’t have to be that way.
I don’t like D&D. That said, the Star Wars thing is always floated as to why the ending was bad and rushed, but I don’t really buy it since D&D stated from 2011 they only wanted to do 7-8 seasons and I believe their statements on this from that time are still on the internet, and they never changed their opinion. George wanted more, to have more time to write material, and HBO wanted more to profit off it, but I think it was becoming less profitable. The negotiations for the actors for Season 7 ended up massively inflating the cost as their salaries were understandably increased in order to get them to commit to more seasons (many were already trying to benefit from the increased notoriety of their roles on the show). Most of them did not want to continue longer than 8 seasons either (Natalie Dormer asked to be written off unless I’m wrong).
Now that doesn’t mean D&D aren’t massively at fault for not bringing in other writers and some of their other antics. But Season 8 was by all accounts extremely difficult to make for everyone involved, narratively and functionally, and some of the responsibility for the poor ending should be at Martin’s door imo.
I was invested in the books heavily. I also loved the show on HBO and absolutely adored it till the ending. They ruined any belief I had in Martin redeeming himself for all of the gratuitous sexual abuse and harassment that figured heavily in the books and somewhat in the show. He did not. He fell for the age old trope of men leading and sometimes (Sansa) a woman given some power. There was no redemption in any way for the mess of everyone’s lives. Poor Jon Snow/Targarian. I will not read any more books of Martin’s. Also, I have not watched any new show. I will not be fooled again.
The story takes place during a brutal medieval style war, of course there’s awful sexual violence. That’s a huge part of war unfortunately.
He’s never going to finish Ice and Fire because he’s a) sort of lost interest in it, and b) he won’t even consider working with a ghostwriter. I’m sure he has decades left to live, but time comes for us all, eventually, and when he passes, his publisher will bring someone in to finally give fans the ending they’ve been waiting for.
He lost interest in his own work and can’t be ars*d to finish it, it’s that simple 🤷♀️.
GOT seasons 7 & 8 were awful; HOTD is meh and I’ll give the new Dunk and Egg show a chance. Would definitely watch a spin off about Aegon’s conquest just to see the burning of Harrenhall.
I saw a comment on Reddit that the ending of the show is how the books are supposed to end, he gave D&D a broad outline which included the ending. They did a poor job getting there, but the ending of the series is Martin’s ending and he’s freaked out since e everyone hated it. (I didn’t mind and saw it coming, even if the execution wasn’t good). Now he has no motivation to write since the audience didn’t accept his ending.
I liked the ending and am convinced that people who didnt see it coming were just sticking their heads in the sand. It was clear from pretty much the first season how it was going to end. I rewatched it after the show ended and honestly until the last two episodes, they did a good job with Danys character and tracking her descent into madness (but she was also always mad.) Some people say they needed more seasons but I honestly think just two more episodes would have helped.
the bran part of the ending was stupid though lol but not the rest of it IMO.
so I think Martin could make the ending work better than the show did but its not his fault people viewed Dany as something other than she was.
Even if things like Dany’s arc were clear in the book, the show eliminated many of the elements of mental instability etc that she showed in the source material because she was the big draw for the show.
Nothing foreshadowed Jaime’s end and quite a bit foreshadowed a completely different ending for him. Same for many other characters, and that’s not even touching the completely anticlimactic ending of some characters like Melisandre. But nobody knew how to wrap it up effectively including the author sadly.
Becks- I think most people aren’t upset about the major plot points of the ending, but rather because D&D rushed the last few seasons so much that it all felt unearned. For example- I’m fine with Danys ending in theory but in practice I think they did a terrible job of executing it.
He may well have given them an outline, whether D&D chose to follow it is another matter.
@Crystal see that’s where I disagree. I think Dany’s mental instability is pretty clear throughout the show. People just didn’t want to see it because they liked what she was doing with it.
He lost control of the narrative in books 4 and 5, and because of the way they’re narrated it’s going to be really hard to write out of the corner he wrote himself into.
I’ve just started watching GoT this past month or so, I never got into the show or books. I tried to read them (my daughter had them, enjoyed them and hated the programme) but I hated the style of writing but damnit George I want to know how your story will differ from the script writing.
I’m of the mind that if he passes before finishing he will have given an outline and someone will finish for him. I think that’s the best anyone can hope for seeing as hes still working on the second last book nearly 2 decades since the last one was released.
I’ll be watching the Dunk & Egg shoe because it looks more lighthearted & and I’m looking forward to HotD this summer, I prefer it’s 2 family plot line.
I too snd thrilled I never started reading the books at this point. I’m sorry yall but you are not getting those last 2 books, unless someone else writes them.
I think what ilovethedark said is true. The show ended the way the books were/are going to end. Having read them I do think it broadly makes sense. The problem is that there are hints in the book: brief mentions of prophecy, inner reflections by the main characters (especially Jon an Dany), and more complex and subtle characterizations for both of them.
The show made Dany the kind of heroine she was never meant to be, IMO. I say this as a woman who loved seeing a strong female leader. Her narrative arc was compressed and simplified so that the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. But it really didn’t, certainly not in the books.
It’s a shame that he will almost certainly never finish them.
He is one of two authors that made me stop reading books series that aren’t already complete. I became invested in the story and characters and was frustrated when the last 2 books kept getting delayed. I’ve come to terms that he’s never going to finish them even though I wish he would. I don’t care if there are differences from the show. Because of this and because I disliked how the showrunners ended the TV series, I refused to watch House of the Dragon and won’t watch this new spin-off either.
I read a very positive review of the new show but I don’t know that I want to invest anything in it.
My 12 year old sees the dvd’s on the shelf from the show (yes, we have physical media!) and has been asking about watching the show for years. We told him to start with the book that Dad has and we’d go from there based on his maturity level when he finishes. We’ve also told him the that up to series 6 it was good watching. The last two seasons will make you yell at the tv because it just got SO bad with plotting and characters. D&D also got bored and wanted to move on.
The Dunk and Egg stories are my favorite thing he has written! I’m not paying for HBO to watch though.
Sometimes in the later books, it feels like he’s just writing a character study and it never really hooks up to the narrative.
It seemed to me when reading the series that he was influenced by Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series with many similar themes and imagery. (I know, terrible things have come about about her personal life, but that was long after I bought all of the books).
I sometimes wonder if he should read them for some inspiration.
I actually have high hopes for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I had no interest in watching House of the Dragon, because honestly, enough with the f’g Targaryens already! (We get it, they’re all super pretty white blonds with purple eyes and a magical affinity for dragons. They’re basically elves, which gets pretty boring after a while.)
Without spoiling anything – the Dunk and Egg stories are much more human and more about the “smallfolk” than the great houses. There’s a deep vein of basic sweetness and decency amid all of the violence. So I think I’m down for this adaptation.