The latest Winds of Winter update didn’t come from George R.R. Martin himself this time. It came from fellow fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, who used a September 17 interview to publicly defend Martin against years of mounting fan frustration, and the response online has been anything but unanimous.
Table of Contents
- What Did Brandon Sanderson Say About The Winds of Winter?
- How Long Have Fans Been Waiting?
- Why Martin Keeps Getting Pulled Away From the Book
- Is There Any Real Winds of Winter Progress?
- Where Does This Leave the Release Timeline?
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Did Brandon Sanderson Say About The Winds of Winter?
Speaking to IGN in an interview published September 17, 2026, Sanderson urged fans to be patient with Martin, arguing that the frustration over the unfinished novel shouldn’t overshadow how genuinely difficult it’s been for Martin to finish a book that has resisted him for years. It’s a notable comment coming from Sanderson specifically, since he’s built his own reputation partly on being one of fiction’s most prolific and reliably on-schedule authors, having famously finished Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series after Jordan’s death.
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How Long Have Fans Been Waiting?
The math isn’t kind to Martin here. A Dance with Dragons, the fifth main A Song of Ice and Fire novel, was published in July 2011, which means readers have now waited more than fifteen years for its follow-up. Martin first sketched out The Winds of Winter and its planned successor, A Dream of Spring, on his blog back in 2006, meaning 2026 marks a full two decades since that initial roadmap.
In that time, Martin has released companion material including The World of Ice & Fire, Fire & Blood, and the Dunk and Egg collection A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but none of it advances the main series past where A Dance with Dragons left off.
Why Martin Keeps Getting Pulled Away From the Book
Martin has been candid about how much his own franchise has expanded around him. In a widely circulated interview, he admitted the ongoing demands of Dunk and Egg material and an unfinished second Fire & Blood volume keep pulling his attention away from Winds:
“I have to write more Dunk and Egg.”
He’s also spoken more personally about the toll of 2026, describing it as a stressful year that included losing friends and struggling with sadness, on top of turning 77 the previous September. None of that, he’s stressed, means the book is being abandoned or that his health is behind the delay.
Is There Any Real Winds of Winter Progress?
By Martin’s own account, the manuscript sits at roughly 1,100 pages, a figure that has barely moved in recent years and matches numbers he was citing as far back as 2022. Reports earlier in 2026 that the book was secretly finished or close to an announcement were shut down directly by Martin’s publisher as misinformation. Prediction markets have also turned firmly against a near-term release, with most current odds ruling out any 2026 launch entirely.
Where Does This Leave the Release Timeline?
There’s still no official release date, and Sanderson’s comments don’t change that. What they do suggest is a shift in how the wider fantasy community is starting to talk about the delay, from outright frustration toward something closer to sympathy for a 77-year-old author juggling a sprawling multimedia franchise he never fully expected to become. Whether that shift in tone translates into an actual finished manuscript remains the one thing nobody, including Martin, can predict.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What did Brandon Sanderson say about The Winds of Winter?
In a September 17, 2026 IGN interview, Sanderson defended George R.R. Martin, arguing fans shouldn’t let frustration overshadow how hard finishing the book has genuinely been for him.
How many pages of The Winds of Winter has George R.R. Martin written?
Martin has said the manuscript is around 1,100 pages, a number that has changed little since 2022.
When is The Winds of Winter release date?
There is still no official release date, and most prediction markets currently rule out any release before the end of 2026.
Why is The Winds of Winter taking so long?
Martin has cited the demands of other Westeros projects, including Dunk and Egg material and a second Fire & Blood volume, along with a difficult personal year in 2026.
Has The Winds of Winter actually been completed?
No. Reports earlier in 2026 claiming the manuscript was finished were denied by Martin’s own publisher.
