George R. R. Martin has responded to mounting fan frustrations over the delayed completion of Winds of Winter, the sixth installment in his acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire series, acknowledging that many readers have "given up" on him.
The author recently joined the production team for an animated Hercules film adaptation titled A Dozen Tough Jobs, marking his latest non-Winds of Winter endeavor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this project will reinterpret Hercules' legendary labors through the lens of a 1920s Mississippi farmer.
In a candid blog post addressing fan backlash, Martin wrote:
I know some of you will be upset by this announcement, just as you've been with every non-Westeros project I've shared. You've lost faith in me, in this book. You believe I'll never finish Winds of Winter, or its successor A Dream of Spring. That if I somehow do, they won't meet expectations. That perhaps I should pass the torch to another writer. You think I'm too old, that I've lost passion for this world decades ago, that I've abandoned writing to live extravagantly. You dismiss my other works - the Hugo-awarded stories, the anthologies with Gardner Dozois - as irrelevant distractions from the one story you care about.
But I do care - about all my work, and especially about Westeros. The Starks, the Lannisters, the Targaryens, these characters mean more to me than you could possibly understand.
I first fell in love with A Dozen Tough Jobs years ago. Howard's untimely passing prevented him from seeing this adaptation, and I hope we do his vision justice. Hercules, Howard, this project excites me enormously - I wish you could share that enthusiasm.
Fourteen years have passed since the publication of A Dance with Dragons in 2011, with no release date in sight for its long-awaited successor. The 76-year-old author still intends to conclude the series with A Dream of Spring, unlike HBO's divisive television adaptation which outpaced the books.
While fans wait, Martin has remained prolific - consulting on several Game of Thrones spinoffs including House of the Dragon, expanding the franchise's lore through historical novels, and contributing worldbuilding to FromSoftware's Elden Ring.
Last September, the author acknowledged on his blog that TV commitments consumed much of his writing time in 2023. In an April 2025 update, he dispelled renewed speculation about an imminent release: "I'm tired of having to deny baseless rumors. The book isn't ready. Not yet."
