'Winds of Winter' writer George R. R. Martin and Joe Lansdale pose before SundanceTV's 'Hap & Leonard' Screening at the Jean Cocteau Theater on February 23, 2016 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo : Getty Images/Steve Snowden)
Is George R.R. Martin's "The Winds of Winter" novel coming out this year? It appears that the premiere of HBO's "Game of Thrones" Season 7 will precede the release date of the sixth "A Song of Ice and Fire" book.
"The Winds of Winter" has been developing slower than expected, and fans are growing anxious to hear news about the book. Author George R.R. Martin recently gave a brief update on his Life Journal blog to keep fans aware of developments. He admitted that he's far from done, although he's made progress.
"Not done yet, but I've made progress," Martin said. "But not as much as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now. I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year)."
Martin added that while he has written "dozens of chapters" and "hundreds of pages" for "The Winds of Winter," he admitted that there is still a lot left to do before the final output comes out of the press.
What is certain for now is that "Game of Thrones" Season 7 will be out ahead of "The Winds of Winter," a similar circumstance in recollection of last year's sixth season. "The Winds of Winter" was supposed to be released before "Game of Thrones" Season 6 premiered on HBO, but Martin was not able to meet his deadline before the show came out.
The entire sixth season of the show moved forward without any reference to any "A Song of Ice and Fire" book, but it is safe to say that the show presented a clear look at what to expect from "The Winds of Winter."
Meanwhile, "Game of Thrones" Season 7 will be released a bit later than the show's usual springtime release in April. Filming for the seventh outing started late due to the fact that they had to film it in time for heavy winter to arrive.
"We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, 'Winter is here'-and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes any more, co-creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss explained to E! News. "So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim, grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."
