George R. R. Martin Tells Game of Thrones Fans Who Are 'Pissed Off' He's Doing Things Other Than Writing Winds of Winter: 'You Have Given Up on Me'

George R. R. Martin has addressed the ongoing complaints astir the advancement of Winds of Winter, the planned sixth caller successful his phantasy bid A Song of Ice and Fire, telling Game of Thrones fans: "you person fixed up connected me."

Last week, Martin joined the accumulation of an upcoming animated Hercules movie successful his latest extracurricular enactment that's not moving connected the long-awaited Winds of Winter. Martin volition service arsenic shaper connected the project, which volition accommodate the classical Greek communicative of Hercules' 12 labors, The Hollywood Reporter stated. Under the rubric of A Dozen Tough Jobs, the movie volition retell events from the position of a husbandman successful 1920s Mississippi.

In a blog post, Martin addressed the effect to the quality from Game of Thrones fans, which has been universally negative.

I know, I know. Some of you volition conscionable beryllium pissed disconnected by this, arsenic you are by everything I denote present that is not astir Westeros oregon THE WINDS OF WINTER. You person fixed up connected me, oregon connected the book. I volition ne'er decorativeness WINDS. If I do, I volition ne'er decorativeness A DREAM OF SPRING. If I do, it won’t beryllium immoderate good. I ought to get immoderate different writer to pinch deed for me… I americium going to dice soon anyway, due to the fact that I americium truthful old. I mislaid each involvement successful A Song of Ice and Fire decades ago. I don’t springiness a crap astir penning immoderate longer, I conscionable beryllium astir and walk my money. I edit the Wild Cards books too, but you hatred Wild Cards. You whitethorn hatred everything other I person ever written, the Hugo-winners and Hugo-losers, “A Song for Lya” and DYING OF THE LIGHT, “Sandkings” and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, “This Tower of Ashes” and “The Stone City,” OLD MARS and OLD VENUS and ROGUES and WARRIORS and DANGEROUS WOMEN and each the different anthologies I edited with my person Gardner Dozois. You don’t attraction astir immoderate of those, I know. You don’t attraction astir thing but WINDS OF WINTER. You’ve told maine truthful often enough).Thing is, I bash attraction astir them.And I attraction astir Westeros and WINDS arsenic well. The Starks and Lannisters and Targaryens, Tyrion and Asha, Dany and Daenerys, the dragons and the direwolves, I attraction astir them all. More than you tin ever imagine.I loved “A Dozen Tough Jobs” the archetypal clip I work it, ages ago. I loved Howard too. It saddens maine that helium did not unrecorded agelong capable to spot the film; I anticipation we bash him justice. How tin we not? Hercules, Howard, Joe, Lion Forge… I privation you each could stock my excitement astatine the imaginable of this movie.

Martin past pointed to the A Dozen Tough Jobs quality “for those who do.”

Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin. Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images.

Winds of Winter, the adjacent publication successful Martin's long-running A Song of Ice and Fire series, inactive lacks a merchandise date. Indeed, it's present been astir 14 years since A Dance with Dragons arrived successful July 2011.

The 76-year-old writer inactive plans for the long-awaited adjacent introduction to beryllium followed by another, A Dream of Spring, to circular disconnected the bid — thing the Game of Thrones' TV adaptation did not hold astir for, albeit with mixed results.

But portion readers wait, Martin has been keeping busy. The writer has been involved, to a greater and lesser degree, successful respective different Game of Thrones TV spin-offs, including the palmy House of the Dragon, and fictional humanities novels astir the franchise's world.

And, of course, Martin has dabbled with the satellite of video games, excessively — penning backstory for Elden Ring.

In September 2024, Martin admitted via his blog that "television projects ate up astir of the archetypal half" of past year, stopping him from penning more. So, erstwhile volition Winds of Winter arrive? Not immoderate clip soon, Martin wrote arsenic precocious arsenic past month.

In a station dated April 7, 2025, Martin complained helium was "so bushed of having to contented denials each clip immoderate offhand remark of mine, astir having thing to bash with WINDS, someway convinces fractional the net that the publication is imminent. It’s not. No."

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].