--- title: George R.R. Martin Drops Major Bomb About Winds of Winter description: Fans are pulling their hair out over George R. R. Martin's latest schedule update on the Winds of Winter release date. canonical: https://time.com/5160226/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release-date/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-15T16:37:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:39.717Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: George R.R. Martin Dropped a Major Bomb About Those Books og:description: Here's the latest update on the A Song of Ice and Fire series og:url: https://time.com/5160226/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release-date/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5762501b6852a97f/698927c0929fad5942befa33/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: George-R-R-Martin-Winds-of-Winter-Release-Date og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: George R.R. Martin Dropped a Major Bomb About Those Books twitter:description: Here's the latest update on the A Song of Ice and Fire series twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5762501b6852a97f/698927c0929fad5942befa33/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # George R.R. Martin Just Dropped a Major Bomb About _The Winds of Winter_ Release Date  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 15, 2018 4:37 PM CUT  George R. R. Martin attends a press conference on August 16, 2017 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. George R. R. Martin attends a press conference on August 16, 2017 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Igor Russak/NurPhoto via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 15, 2018 4:37 PM CUT While HBO confirmed that [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/game-of-thrones-2017/ "undefined")will return for its eighth and final season in 2019, George R.R. Martin remains less than forthcoming about the release of the long-awaited sixth book in his _A Song of Ice and Fire_ book series, _The Winds of Winter_. In response to a fan who asked about the timeline for _Fire and Blood_—a new spinoff series exploring the history of House Targaryen—GRRM revealed that it would be released as two separate volumes. However, this explanation included a detail that may have _ASOIAF_ fans pulling their hair out. “F&B will be in two volumes. Vol 1 before \[_The Winds of Winter_\]_,_ vol 2 after,” he [replied](https://grrm.livejournal.com/562606.html?thread=26500782#t26500782 "undefined") in the comments of his [LiveJournal blog](https://grrm.livejournal.com/562606.html "undefined"). “The first volume should be completed soon. The second is hardly begun…Most of FIRE & BLOOD consists of the ‘sidebars’ I originally wrote for THE WORLD OF ICE & FIRE. Abridged versions of some of those pieces appeared as ‘The Princess and the Queen,’ ‘The Rogue Prince,’ and ‘The Sons of the Dragon,’ but these are the full versions, together with some chapters that have never appeared anywhere.” Considering Martin apparently isn’t one to rush his work, this likely means that even if we get the first volume of _Fire and Blood_ in 2018, _The Winds of Winter_ could potentially still be years away. All we have to say is, sigh. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5160226/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release-date/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5160226/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-release-date/"},"headline":"George R.R. 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