As the lockdown continues, Game of Thrones fans have been pleased to hear from George RR Martin himself that he’s making progress on The Winds of Winter. The highly anticipated A Song of Ice and Fire book has been a long time coming, with almost a decade having passed since his most recent novel in the series A Dance With Dragons hit shelves. The 71-year-old author is currently in his secluded mountain cabin where he’s updated fans that he’s been writing The Winds of Winter every day.

As a 2020 release date looks more and more likely, fans have been wondering if the author would make his July 29 deadline of when WorldCon New Zealand begins.

Well since the pandemic has seen the fan event cancelled and replaced by a virtual convention, Martin updated on his blog: “If there is a silver lining in these clouds, this will give me more time to finish WINDS OF WINTER.

“I continue to write every day, up here in my mountain fastness.”

So just where is Martin up to with his writing? Has he finished? Is he editing? A trusted ASOIAF expert and insider has weighed in.

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So by the sounds of it, Martin will not see The Winds of Winter published in time for his July 29 deadline.

However, the author may well have completed the manuscript by then, that he then sends off to editors.

Meanwhile, in his most recent blog post, Martin appeared to tease The Winds of Winter will be released in 2020.

Martin’s post this weekend concerned his movie theatre, the Jean Cocteau Cinema in New Mexico, which has been closed since the lockdown began.

He wrote of how he’s kept his staff on, working virtually on the JCC YouTube channel.

And just before signing off, he cryptically teased: “We hope to keep adding content to the JCC… including new book events… once we reopen.”

So just what new book events followed by a “dot dot dot” could the author be teasing but The Winds of Winter’s release later this year?

The author will know fans will think he means Winds, so fingers crossed he’s almost done.