The exact release date of “Winds of Winter” is still not known and the book is probably some time away from release at this point. At the same time, there are various rumors indicating that it will not be finished in time for a 2015 release, even though fans were hopeful that this would not be the case some months ago. And despite all those rumors and indications, the fact that the release date hasn’t been officially set has been giving hope to some fans who are still expecting to see the book out by the end of this year.
Is that really possible though? In the end, nobody by George R. R. Martin knows what the author’s plans are, and he is known for having a somewhat hectic schedule and being vague about his release dates. This kind of reputation has been following Martin around for a long time, probably since he started publishing, and it’s no surprise that things around the latest installment in his most famous book series have been so chaotic.
The author himself said some time ago that he didn’t want to commit to a specific release date as he had no idea how things would play out over time, and he didn’t give any outline of his progress. The only thing we have to go by right now are rumors from people allegedly close to his work on the series, but that’s about it.
It’s worth noting that Martin has been quiet lately and hasn’t been engaging his community much, and he even cancelled a public appearance in order to work on the book. Because of this, some fans are convinced that he is already putting the last finishing touches on the new installment and he’s preparing to bring it out to the market, but that’s not necessarily a strong indication that Martin really is planning a big release soon.
On the other hand, the fact that the new season of “Game of Thrones” is already in its production stage has also inspired some fans to believe that the book is almost ready. After all, the show follows the story of the books, and if the new season is being made then obviously the writers for the show must know what happens in “Winds of Winter” in order to work on their own scripts, right?
Well, not quite – we should remember that the writers for “Game of Thrones” don’t really need the finished, polished book to come up with their own scripts, when a simple rough draft or even a plot outline with details added in would work just fine.
In fact, there were reports that the producers of the show were meeting with Martin in private in order to discuss the future of the series, as they needed some critical information from the author to continue writing their own scripts. This apparently worked out fine and the scriptwriters got what they needed, allowing them to keep working on the show.
But this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the book being finished, or even anywhere close to that state. It’s perfectly possible that Martin was still in early stages of writing that book when the writers for the show got in touch with him, and as we said above, they realistically wouldn’t need much more than a simple outline of the script in order to get their job done accurately.