George R. R. Martin recently announced his cancellation of appearances at a number of conventions around the world, citing his dedication to finishing The Winds of Winter as the reason. BryndenBFish used this opportunity to take an in-depth scientific look at the prospects of the book’s completion, timely or otherwise.
Coming hard on the heels of that announcement, George has now released a follow-up entry on his NotABlog. In it, he hits back at reporting outlets and fans who misinterpreted his message to mean that he had cancelled all appearances, with the intent to finish Winds at the expense of all else.
Listen, please. I am skipping San Diego Comicon and World Fantasy Con… but as of this writing, I am still planning on making all of my other scheduled appearances. Okay? Clear?
I would prefer not to have to cancel anything, but that depends on how the work is going… And by “work,” I mean WINDS OF WINTER, of course… but not exclusively WINDS OF WINTER. When I say, “my plate is full,” I don’t just mean with WINDS.
Following on from this in the same blog entry, George also announces that he will not be writing a script for Season 6 of Game of Thrones, of his own volition. This time, however, he does seem to cite working exclusively on Winds as the reason for deferring his script-writing opportunity.
… [A]fter wrestling with it for a month or so, I’ve decided not to script an episode for season six of GAME OF THRONES. Writing a script takes me three weeks, minimum, and longer when it is not a straight adaptation from the novels. And really, it would cost me more time than that, since I have never been good at changing gears from one medium to another and back again. Writing a season six script would cost me a month’s work on WINDS, and maybe as much as six weeks, and I cannot afford that. With David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bryan Cogman on board, the scriptwriting chores for season six should be well covered. My energies are best devoted to WINDS.
This does not validate the potential knee-jerk reaction that this is confirmation on the delay of his apparent Winds progress, however. Despite airing in a year, Season 6 will begin shooting in just a few months, so the scriptwriters will surely be taking up their duties soon (if they haven’t already).
On the Season 5 side of things, a new interview has surfaced courtesy of the Toronto Sun, in which some of the Dornish newcomers offer their thoughts on the show.
Speaking of where Doran Martell’s mind is set when we meet him for the first time this season, Alexander Siddig said:
Half of my nation would like to go to war now. Should we be going to war? Should I put at risk all the people in my nation? How many people are going to die? These are the things I grapple with.
DeObia Oparei spoke of where he came from and where he is now, reminiscing on his “incredibly maverick lifestyle”. On the oft-talked about topic of nudity in Thrones, he had the following to say:
I’d love to show my willy!
Referring to his own character, Areo Hotah, and the greater Dorne psyche, he mentioned that:
There is a sense that we are all on the precipice of the next danger, and there’s something about the humanity and the fragility of life that Game of Thrones really puts in our faces… At the same time it’s mixed with that escapism of wealth and royalty and heads rolling.
Staying with Dornish characters, Jessica Henwick was the next to offer some insight into Nymeria’s and the other Sand Snakes’ situations in Season 5:
Someone very close to us has been taken away, and so we go, ‘How can we get them back in the same way? Well, let’s take something away from the Lannisters that they love.’ So that’s where we’re coming from this season.
She also joked on the difficulties of learning how to wield an eight-foot long kangaroo-hide bullwhip as a weapon:
I hit myself in the face, I hit myself in the bum, I hit myself in the ankle. You don’t feel it, and then afterwards it starts throbbing.
With specific reference to the scene glimpsed in the Season 5 trailer (pictured above), she said:
They were like, ‘Right, Jess, you have 10 minutes to do your whip movement. Don’t hit the camera, don’t hit the camera crew, don’t blind the actor and please don’t kill these scorpions.’
And finally, HBO’s newest edition of The Buzz features the Game of Thrones premiere, grabbing quotes from the stars as they hit the black carpet:
Stannis!
House Ray,
Robb!
GM seems to be acting like a student with a term paper due. He procrastinates and waits until the last minute to say “Oh shit, I gotta write that paper!”. Then, on the day before it is due, spends as much time as it takes in order to finish and get that “C+”.
Renly!
Does anyone else feel like GRRM is not only working on Winds of Winter but A Dream of Spring as well. trying to finish WoW early 2016 and finish DoS before the 8th season if they expanded to an 8th.
Hodor!
Every additional glimpse of Alexander Siddig makes me really optimistic about Dorne this season! 🙂 Can’t wait!
Adam,
No. I really, REALLY don’t think that’s the case.
Adam,
Yes! I’ve believed this for quite awhile now. Hope we’re right!
Adam,
Nah, I get the feeling he’s just working on Wild Cards.
Adam,
There’s a Wilco song about that:
Adam,
GRRM has said in the past that he mostly writes the chapters of a POV character in one long stretch before changing to another character. So it’s absolutely possible that he’s written chapters that will end up in ADOS for some characters, while he’s still in the middle of TWOW with others.
That said, no way he’ll actually finish ADOS before the show ends. That ship has sailed long ago.
If Eugen Simon´s name hadn´t shown up on the screen I would not have known he was our cousin lover!
Nicolaj should have brought the
with him. 😉
Isn’t this the same reason why he didn’t script an episode for season 5? To focus on TWoW?
“Please note that at both of these cons (I’m attending), I am a guest of honor.”
We get it, George, you’re a big deal. ::fart noise::
The Family Name,
He clearly mentioned that to explain why he didn’t cancel those appearances, but I guess you can twist around every word he says if you like
Maybe GM has an issue with writing an adaptation of his work that isn’t even finished yet?
this made my “irrational anger at an author i’ll never meet and who owes me nothing” meter fly into the red for a few heartbeats.
The Family Name,
From Not A Blog:
“Please note that at both of these cons, I am a guest of honor. They invited me years ago, and have been advertising my participation for many months. Fans and readers have planned accordingly. I would not feel right in pulling out of an obligation like this, except perhaps in cases of medical or family emergency, and that does not apply here. At San Diego and Saratoga I was not a GOH, just a program participant, attending largely on my own hook. Makes it much easier to withdraw.”
Having some reading comprehension problems, dear?
This post is kind of wrong… it says that GRRM states he’s doing it to exclusively work on Winds…
But in GRRM’s blog post he says he’s also got Wildcards, three new televison concepts he’s developing, a couple of videogames he’s helping with, the new Wildcards movie he’s producing AND the new company he’s just formed to make short films…
A Wildcards movie? Four days early with that news, isn’t he?
I hope one those TV concepts have something to do with GoT offshoots. With the mind-boggling success HBO has had with GoT, they will surely want to continue something in that world the season after GoT ends. That’s not too far away. A potential new show based on GoT should ideally be out April 2018, and should be filming late 2017. Time to start working on that NOW.
You’re being intentionally misleading and you know it. You know exactly why he said that and the reason you do is because you intentionally left off the next few sentences.
I expected GRRM to announce that he wouldn’t be writing a 6th season episode. So, not a big deal. Obviously it would be best to see him pen something every season but staying in a writing groove is more important than the show. I wouldn’t be shocked if he doesn’t write a 7th season episode either.
Not because he will still be writing “Winds” or because he’ll be hard at work on “Spring” but because he might want to save that energy for season 8 and the movie. 😉
I was surprised at how testy it got on GRRM’s own not-a-blog the other day, forcing GRRM to issue a rare “please stay on topic” post. One of the disappointed posters boldly used a metaphor with the Giants football team, which initiated a response by many, including GRRM. He has got to be feeling the growing disappointment and anxiety out there. Damn, given his regular boasting of his diverse accomplishments, accolades received, and his check-writing tasks, it must be difficult for him to completely “disconnect” and focus on writing a decent chapter. I don’t envy him.
However, in response to those who think “GRRM is not your bitch”….in this convoluted, overly-sensational, entitled, deconstructively critical & clickable, exploitive virtual world, when there is significant money involved, everyone is someone’s bitch.
GeekFurious,
Let’s bet. Right now. 7 seasons.
That Jessica Henwick quote though!
Rygar,
I think he was joking, about how Martin seems to think there will be 8 seasons and a movie.
Well, to an extent, there is some justification. Yes, each volume of Song of Fire and Ice tells its own story. (This is excepting Crows & Dragons, which are two volumes for one story.) We bought it, we read it, we got at least part of our money’s worth from it.
However, we got only part of our money’s worth: GRRM set up an over-arching plot and even some semblance of over-arching story in those books. We have paid for the setup for those: but GRRM has not delivered the rest of it. Moreover, it at leasts superficially looks like part of the reason why he’s been slow to deliver it has been his expansion of the narrative: but that expansion of the narrative also has led to a decline in the quality of the storytelling in many peoples’ minds. (I, for one, thought that Dragons was close to the quality of the first three books, but Crows was simply bad storytelling: I could not even be certain of what the story was until I read Dragons!)
The show Glee (of all things!) might offer a lesson here. They expanded the cast greatly in the 4th season. It did not work: so they basically just sacked all of the new cast members after the 5th season, and focused on the original characters in the last season. (Yes, they added new characters: but they were all supporting characters setup to create issues for the original characters.)
Not that he would listen, but I would tell GRRM to do the same. Go back to that original letter and plot outline. Look at those “Big 5” (now “Big 6” with Sansa’s emergence) and focus on the over-arching plots and stories for those. Do that keeping the endgame and over-arching story in mind as a “control sentence.” Then fill in the gaps with the over-arching plots and stories for the second-tier protagonists (Jaime, Cersei, Davos, etc.) If there are any obvious gaps in the plot remaining, then fill those with the occasional PoV chapters for the Asha’s or Brienne’s of the story. (Glee did bring back one of the “new” cast once they realized that they had a “hole” in the collective cast: they needed the “bitch girl” to keep others in line!)
Big Mac,
You obviously have not been paying attention.
I think that GRRM is getting very testy with the fans. He’s tired of everyone asking him about the next book as its been asked since ADWD came out. And now he has more people asking due to more fans because of the show. He can’t enjoy the success of the show without people asking him why he’s not done with the book. For all we know, he’s written himself into a corner or has writer’s block and is frustrated with himself. It happens and its very frustrating to the writer when people are saying ‘we’re waiting’ while it’s happening. But honestly, he’s a bit unrealistic to expect that people aren’t anxious for the next book when he’s been promising it for years and the only year he didn’t promise it – this year – he corrected the publishers when they said it wouldn’t come out this year by saying it might. He really can’t have it both ways. Maybe he should just be like D&D and adopt the policy of not talking about things he doesn’t want to answer. lol
It’ll be out when it’s out. The show has already made the plan to write their own version without the books (and in some cases, even when there is a book they change the story for various reasons) so maybe people should stop worrying about it so much. If I were GRRM I’d worry more that people who read the books because of the show won’t buy the next 2 books after the show is finished.
Would it be funny if he does decide to write for Season 7 and writes episode 10
For every person in that category, there will be more than one person who is reading the books solely because of the shows. He’ll come out ahead, if he lives to finish the series!
Wimsey,
Yeah…I agree that ADwD “almost” recaptured the ASoS aesthetic spirit…which is very promising for TWoW (Act III, pt 1). I’m not as critical as some with AFfC. I understand what he was trying to do regarding world-building for Act II, but I thought the storyline separation (sort of by geography? Not really) was an awful decision, especially given the publication delays. A chronological re-read (via Boiled Leather) is much better. However, I wonder if there would have been the same level of criticism of AFfC if he had published AFfC along a similar schedule as the previous three. Sometimes I wonder if folks weren’t simply pissed at what they got (or lack thereof) for their patience.
I will maintain though that the AFfC prologue tie-in with the last chapter of AFfC is a brilliant, disturbing sequence that desperately needs a follow-up!!! Watch out Sam!! Arrgghhhh!!!
Somebody’s feeling entitled! You paid for the book you got. Not for the books to come. So don’t talk about “your money’s worth” as if you’ve invested in TWOW or ADOS. You haven’t until you actually buy those books. It’s good that GRRM has thought about the overarching plot and drops parts of that in each book, but that does not make the money you paid for AGOT 40% for that book and the leftover being 10% “money’s worth” invested in the remaining 6 books. You paid 100% for AGOT, and you’ve been paying ZIP for TWOW. This isn’t kickstarter.. -.-
Well, perhaps a slight amount if you visited a con and witnessed a live reading, for which you likely would’ve had to pay an entrance fee.
Probably people being incredibly impatient and therefore unhappy with what they got. Which then obviously either grew or diminished overtime, depending on who read it multiple times.
Agreed, the opening and epilogue are awesome in Feast.
Right, am I the only one thinking that all this “the show will spoil the books” bullshit conversation is simply a lot of free marketing for both GRRM’books and D&D’s show? I might be naive in this, but I think GRRM is well smart enough to know that if this happens his profits out of the books will be significantly less than if, say, he releases the last book JUST before the last season comes out and EVERYONE will buy/read it to know how all ends before seeing it on screen.
I think he planned the release of the last three books WAY before the show even started, and that he (rightfully so?) is trying to make the most out of it. I mean, he released ADWD just after the first season of GOT after YEARS of delays: is it naive to think he purposely delayed the release in order to use the buzz around the new show to increase sales? My guess: he’ll release TWOW just after this season ends, as by then we will all be unsullied on what happens next and will devour the book. Then, he’ll release ADOS right after season 6-7 (whatever D&D will decide is the penultimate season, hence likely 6).
I know this sounds sci fi to most fans given GRRM previous records, but listen: if you are a professional and got a job to do it by a deadline, you just do it (even if it turns out not to be the best you could’ve done). An example: I am a scientist and would like to spend as much time as possible working on a piece of research before writing a paper on it. Now, imagine I go to a conference and find out someone else is working on the same thing: what do I do? I can either keep working at my pace and try to publish once I am 100% happy with the work, and hence risk being scooped by my competitor, or simply write what I have and hope for the best. I might not be 100% happy, but I’ll likely survive the competition. Same thing applies if my grant is about to run out and I need to publish to get it renewed: I’ll write what I have without delay. Now, GOT is both a competitor of ASIOAF, and is also setting the deadline for his grant renewal. He’ll do what it needs to be done, in time.
Now, if you are skeptical because of the time constraint (no matter how in a rush he is, I agree he would not be able to pull out 1500 pages in a year!), imagine for a second that all you’ve been told about his progress on TWOW is just based on his intention of creating the buzz we are now talking about: he might have the book already ready to go, more, he might have had it a year ago! For all we know, he might have started working on this even before ADWD was published, and might be writing now the second half of ADOS as we speak. Not saying this is the case for sure, but how to rule out this possibility? All we know comes from him (or his buddies), so he can control rumours as he wishes.
Apologies if this sounds silly to most of you, but I needed to know if there is any hard evidence I am totally imagining things (as it might as well be). I’ve been lurking and reading about this for too long to keep this idea for myself.
That was a factor, definitely. I mean, how often can people sit around and debate who Jon’s mother is, whether Aegon Jr. is still alive, who the three heads are or what is the Other’s end-game? (At least the “is Robb the Hero of the series?” debate got snuffed.) And then we got a book that didn’t further any of the “pressing issues” and swamped us with a bunch of new people.
What I also remember, though, was a lot of dissatisfaction with the new PoV characters. There was a lot of “Dorne was worse. No, Iron Islands was worse. No, Arab! No, Pirates!!” That is not the sort of discussion an author wants to incite.
Of course, that was among the fans. What general readers thought is harder to gauge: but given that they tend to be less tolerant of “world building” and convoluted storytelling than fans are, I expect that it was less positive than fan-reaction.
I’m pulling the other post until I can some better confirmation of any of it being real. It seems pretty sketchy at the moment. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.
Hardly. The vast majority of the audience is going to be oblivious to the general issue. People watch TV shows, but they usually do not spend much time reading about most (if any) of the shows that they watch. Just as long as the show continues at the current quality, the audience will be only peripherally aware that at some point the show actually passed the books: most will not know when that was.
Sue the Fury,
It was actually SpoilerTV who left that comment with the scoop in it though, wasn’t it?
Wimsey,
For the love of god please don’t compare GoT to Glee , and i’m talking as someone who suffered through it till the end . The writing was atrocious , and “The Everyone Gets a Happy Ending” finale was trash.Glee after Season 1 was nothing but an hour long commercial for itunes singles with nothing resembling a plot or characters arcs.
Greenjones,
Yes. And I would be very surprised if it is NOT real.
Greenjones,
Well it seemed like it. That’s why I’m checking and haven’t deleted the post, just tucked it away so as to not spread the info in case it’s wrong. It sounds like the Cogman writing credit may have been the only mistake, (and it wouldn’t be unique for HBO to have messed something up in press release material- they do that all the time, but you guys rarely see it). I prefer to be certain before letting the post stand.
The trolling “spoilers” we’ve been getting over the past year or so have all been very elaborate and subtle but have also all had a common theme: perpetuating the notion that Lady Stoneheart will appear on the show. It’s typically buried in a bunch of other info that seems legitimate and innocuous but there’s one sentence or plot point that gives the impression that we might see Brienne run into LSH at some point.
Based on the fact that we’ve already seen photoshopped “deleted tweets” from a random Frey actor, an anonymous “review” that has Brienne and Pod hearing strange sounds in the woods etc I would not be surprised if the entire point of someone leaking false episode summaries was to have that “Brienne seeks shelter in the woods” line in E7 so that fans would get excited about yet another LSH inkling.
I have no idea why you would go to this amount of trouble to create seemingly plausible spoilers just to achieve this when the evidence will be disproved within a few days because of legitimate sources.
Honestly, get a life.
I reckon there has been a falling out between the two parties.
Good on George for sticking his head down and getting to work.
Easteros Bunny,
Sorry, but this is simply not true. Whilst they definitely disagree about things, George clearly resspects their opinion. This is just a senssibe decision, and I only wish he had done this earlier than Season 5. However, I do hope that we get an episode from him in Season 7.
If the summaries are verified, I would like to think the strange sounds could be
All of which is quite moot. The producers of Glee recognized that all of the “Ariannes” and “Victarions” added in the 4th season hurt the show. The audience was invested in the main characters established early on in the series: and trying to parallel their stories with de novo characters didn’t work.
The Glee producers attributed the big ratings drop after the 4th year in part to the new cast not working, so the producers dropped all of the newbies. (I think that they might have come back for the final song-and-dance number, but everyone seemed to be there. Heck, I think that Lady Stoneheart was in it….)
(Personally, I thought that Glee was silly, but my wife liked it, and Glee was very popular: until all of a sudden it wasn’t.)
Er, between which two parties?
Watchers on the Wall @WatchersOTWall
Sorry about the mixup, folks, but I believe the S5 synopses posted earlier are false.
Where did the post about the synopses for E4-E7 go?
Dragonmcmx,
It was false.
I wonder how many people would have bought the first book way back when if they knew the books would take 20 years to complete (if they get completed at all) and a TV adaption would spoil ASOIAF. Not me. Even though it was unintentional, Martin screwed his fans and should at least own up to it instead of whining that HBO did not drag it out and blaming the fans if they feel spoiled.
mau,
No. Cogman tweeted the writing credit was inaccurate, so they removed it. Doesn’t mean the text is wrong (or fake).
Better to leave the post up and include a retraction rather than removing it. Removing the post makes it seem like you’re hiding something. We understand that mistakes happen.
Cumsprite,
I wonder how many people died waiting for one of the books during those 20 years.
Dnis,
Sue has stated that if it’s verified to be true, they’ll throw the post back up, it’s just hidden right now.
It’s irresponsible to have something posted that you haven’t vetted and may be proven to be false. Other sites link to this one as a source of news so you want to make sure the things you put out there don’t have to be retracted. That’s why a lot of breaking news stays in the comment section for a bit.
Small spoiler from recapped.com :
Dnis,
No. If it’s the work of a troll (and it’s natural to suspect it), I’m not giving them more attention than they’ve already received. And clearly nothing’s being hidden if we’re openly talking about the situation. Leaving the post up would also just spread possible misinformation. People have a tendency to not read warnings and mea culpas. They just read the highlights and spread the juicy bits.
Dragonmcmx,
Just scroll up a few comments and read the discussion already happening.
Dutch maester,
I’m hoping the synopsis of each episode was correct, and it was just a case of getting the writing credits wrong, but I have my doubts now. It’s a shame, because the synopsis sounded very exciting.
zod,
Pink mast alert!
Tyrion Pimpslap,
Indeed. Luckily, if it were fake, it is still based on everything we know so far to make it plausible. So, fake or not, most of it will probably still end up happening in a way.
I still think it isn’t fake, though.
3 episodes in a row not written by D and D? Cant wait for people to start saying the season was all downhill after episode 6.
Yivo,
why would anyone be saying that?
D and D have wrote most of the episodes for all 5 seasons
including a lot of the shows most critically acclaimed episodes
We apologize for the errors in the writing credits. We’ll post the finalized synopsis with the amended credits on our site soon. Again, sorry for the incovenience.
The sypnosys felt like it was real. I mean if it was a troll they would have not included Margary, I can tell you that much. Unless the trolls have updated themselves in the last year I don’t think it was false.
This would not be the first time HBO have made a mistake with episode credits, they often do it with the running time.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Sp.Tv,
So the only error in the synopsis was the writing credits? The information about the episodes themselves was accurate?
Post hard and true, crow, or I’ll come back and haunt you. 🙂
Sue the Fury,
Would a news site just pull a story without an explanation? Commenting in a different post doesn’t count as an explanation. Different standard here, with this being a fan site that also breaks news, but I think the most responsible thing to do is to edit the post and keep it public.
This isn’t my site and I won’t change your mind, though, so no worries.
Regardless we at least know now that Cogman wrote eps. 505 and 506.
I guess someone could ask Cogman over twitter if in fact Dave Hill did write 504?
Dnis,
In addition to “commenting in a different post”, as you put it, it was also put on the WotW twitter.
Someone has already requoted that above, but in case you missed it:
https://twitter.com/WatchersOTWall/status/581914919781711872
Ep 8-10 Synopses Confirmed!
Jon Snow meets a new enemy. Arya learns a new lesson. Tyrion attends an auction. Sansa makes a discovery.
Ep9. The Seven Pointed Star
Dany observes an old tradition. Jaime makes an important decision. Brienne encounters an old friend. Cersei is tested.
Ep 10. Daggers in the Dark
Jorah seeks redemption. Arya is given an assignment. Jon reveals a new plan to his brothers.
Just kidding…..
Hah! I just realized that April fools day is right around the corner. Good one.
Crabber’s Son,
not funny
Greenjones,
I’ve already ascertained through a trustworthy source that the rest of the technical information is accurate.
But the summaries themselves are so vague, I would prefer official confirmation. Hmm.
Sue the Fury,
Thanks!
So that’s something at least. We know who’s writing each ep. in s5 now.
Sue the Fury,
What do you mean by technical info? In your opinion, Sue, do you think the summaries are real or fake?
Oh and btw the GoT youtube channel added this. It’s mostly old stuff but there’re some new shots in it of Hardhome, Daznak’s, Jaime on the beach and a bit more Sons of the Harpy action.
I’m laughing at the new trailer when that wildling fell off of the balcony thing ahaha.
Well if him releasing an unfinished boxset of books with fancy leathercloth covers being an indication of anything, it’s that there isn’t going to be an ASOIAF product for a long time. The Wait for Winds continues.
Stannis!
Life imitates art: the wait for Winds to get anywhere near a publisher now parallels the wait for Dany to get anywhere near Westeros.
Well it is a given GRRM wouldn’t write any episodes for season 6, D&D are changing so much now, it confuses even the Maester himself.
tyjon,
Somehow I doubt that GRRM has any problem distinguishing between the trivial details and the actual story. (I just wish he’d spend less time on the trivial details in his writing: we’d get the books a lot faster! However, some people write “from the ground up” rather than from the “roof down.”)
GRRM not acting like he’s a celebrity and milking the success of the show for once? Shocker.
It seems like he wants TWOW out by the time that S6 begins. I don’t think he’ll make it.
Woah, I would’ve thought that it was not a real whip, or it was some camera trickery, when she whipped the thing off the man’s head. The actor must be a brave dude to allow a girl who has whipped herself more times than intended to whip that off his head lol
Wow, think about if there had never been a TV show…his progress would have been so much more slow than it is today!
I am a writer. I get that it’s hard. But you have to discipline yourself as with any difficult task, and get it done. You need to make it a priority or progress suffers. It’s not that it’s writer’s block or anything like that – it’s that he’s just not making the books his biggest priority. His choice! But there are always consequences to our choices; that’s life.
That’s clearly false. Just look at George’s agenda before and after the show, it has increased exponentialy with his newfound fame.
Not to mention the months he has spent writing his 4 episodes, visiting the set and the premieres, reviewing the casting tapes, etc…