Overview

• At New York Comic Con on Oct. 11, Martin acknowledged the yearslong delay and his long-standing trouble meeting deadlines.
• He said he is still working on The Winds of Winter and offered no timetable for publication.
• Martin described the global success of Game of Thrones and fan scrutiny as a weight that has slowed his writing.
• He noted cycles of progress interrupted by other projects, reinforcing his decision to stop predicting release dates publicly.
• A separate report cited author Jeffe Kennedy claiming the manuscript is roughly 70% complete, a figure Martin has not confirmed, while reporting also describes a publisher tolerant of extensions.