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George R.R. Martin set a deadline for when he could be imprisoned for not finishing The Winds of Winter, and it was 6 years ago
George R.R. Martin’s 2019 joke that fans could imprison him if he had not completed The Winds of Winter by the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention has resurfaced, six years after that deadline passed. The continued delay matters because the novel is the long-awaited sixth instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire, the series that inspired Game of Thrones.
Martin said he could be held in a cabin on New Zealand’s White Island until he finished the book if it was not ready for the convention. The Winds of Winter was announced after A Dance with Dragons, published in 2011, and Martin has repeatedly said he remains working on it without setting a firm release date.
In short
- Martin’s humorous 2020 deadline passed six years ago.
- The Winds of Winter remains unpublished.
- The novel follows 2011’s A Dance with Dragons.
Explained simply
George R.R. Martin is the American author of A Song of Ice and Fire, an epic fantasy series that became the basis for the popular television show Game of Thrones. The Winds of Winter is the sixth book in this series, awaited by millions of readers since the previous instalment, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011.
In 2019, Martin jokingly suggested that fans could imprison him in a remote cabin on New Zealand's White Island until he finished the book if it was not completed by the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention. The comment reflected the widespread anticipation and frustration among readers about the lengthy wait for the novel.
The book matters to the publishing industry and to fans because it will determine how the epic story continues and concludes. Martin remains at work on the manuscript but has not committed to a release date. This has made it one of the most anticipated and delayed releases in recent publishing history.