Everything George R. R. Martin has worked on instead of finishing The Winds of Winter

Say whatever you want about George R. R. Martin; one thing for sure is that he keeps busy (just not much with finishing A Song of Ice and Fire). He has published over 50 works of fiction, anthologies, and worked on several scripts and even video games. If you’re wondering what exactly Martin has been up to in the past 12 years, here you go!

In the meantime: All The Winds of Winter excerpts shared by George R. R. Martin so far

House of the Dragon

Based on Martin’s 2018 book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is based in the Game of Thrones Universe, 200 years prior to the events of the original show. It broke several records for HBO and has already received 9 Emmy nods. George is credited as the executive producer of the show and co-creator alongside Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, who will not be returning for season 2. When asked in what capacity Martin has been working on the show, Condal told Deadline:

“Generally it’s George and I in communication. I send him everything. I send him outlines, I send him scripts, I send him cuts, I send him text messages, I send him questions, Why did you do this? What does this mean? Who is this person? We stay in constant communication. He’s very active and reads a lot and gives a lot of feedback. Other times he just sort of defers and says, go with the Gods.

I keep him in constant contact with the materials so he can know what’s going on if he chooses to. But he is a very busy guy. It’s really hard for him to engage with us at the pace that we would need him to, to weigh in on every single little decision. The train is moving too fast. But he always knows what’s going on.

That’s the thing that I promised him from the beginning: I might not always do exactly the thing that he wants me to do, but we will always talk about it. We will always have the discussion, and I’ve honored that.”

Wild Cards

This series spans 30 books and counting and is written by several authors, spearheaded by George R.R. Martin, who also edits it. It tells the story of an alternate world where an alien virus hits Manhattan in 1946 and decimates the human race.

Martin writes on his blog, “Of those infected, 90% died horribly, drawing the black queen,” Martin writes. “9% were twisted and deformed into jokers, while a lucky 1% became blessed with extraordinary and unpredictable powers and became aces. The world was never the same.”

Launched in 1986, this series was also in talks to have its own live-adaptation series. But Disney-owned Hulu passed on it in 2016, and NBC’s Peacock also followed suit in 2023. The future of the TV show is uncertain, but the book series has been regularly published, with the latest one published in 2022.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is set in a fantasy world called the Lands Between, where a mysterious artifact known as the Elden Ring has been shattered by an unknown force.

Released in 2022, it was developed by FromSoftware, the studio behind the Dark Souls series, and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is a collaboration between Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of FromSoftware, and George R.R. Martin.

Miyazaki described Martin’s role as being similar to a dungeon master’s guidebook, setting the rules and parameters of the world. Martin was tasked with creating the mythology and lore of the world, especially the era before the game’s events.

He did not write the main story or the dialogue but rather provided the background and context for Miyazaki and FromSoftware to build upon.

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is a 2015 American made-for-television comedy disaster film and the third installment in the Sharknado film series. What attracts audiences to watch this is simply because it is so bad that it is entertaining. That’s why it was so surprising to find George R.R. Martin in one of the scenes suddenly.

Martin plays himself as a guest at a movie theater in Universal Studios, where he is watching a film about a three-headed shark. He is seated next to one of the main characters in the Sharknado series. Martin makes a reference to his famous phrase, “Winter is coming,” before he is killed by a flying shark that bites his head off.

Martin’s cameo was a result of his friendship with Sharknado director Anthony C. Ferrante, who contacted him through Twitter and asked him to be in the film. Martin agreed, as he is a fan of cheesy horror movies and wanted to have some fun.

Ferrante flew to New Mexico, where Martin lives, and filmed the scene in a day. Ferrante said that he wanted to keep Martin’s cameo a secret until the film aired, as he thought it would be a great shock for the viewers.

Night Cooters

Night of the Cooters is a short film based on a sci-fi novel by Howard Waldrop, published in 1987. The film is produced by George R.R. Martin and directed by Vincent D’Onofrio, who also stars as Sheriff Lindley. The film is a humorous and action-packed story about a group of Texans who have to fight off an invasion of Martians in the 1800s.

The film is a passion project for Martin and D’Onofrio, who are longtime friends with Waldrop and fans of his work. Martin said that he wanted to bring one of Waldrop’s “wild and wonderful stories” to the screen.

D’Onofrio said that he had a lot of fun directing and acting in the film, which he described as “a small but large collaboration of talented people.” The film also features a score by Ramin Djawadi, who composed the music for Game of Thrones.

Books in the Game of Thrones Universe

The author has written multiple spin-offs and guidebooks to the A Song of Ice And Fire world since the last book in the series, which was released in 2011. In 2012, Martin published The Lands of Ice and Fire, a set of 12 maps that depict the world of his A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

The maps were drawn by Jonathan Roberts, a mapmaker, and show everything from Westeros to Asshai. This was the first time that Martin’s writing was influenced by the popularity of Game of Thrones outside of the TV show.

The World of Ice and Fire was released in 2014. Martin collaborated with Elio García and Linda Antonsson, the fan-site admins of Westeros.org, to write this companion book to his A Song of Ice and Fire series.

A year later, he published a compilation of the three books in the Dunk and Egg story series, titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. It is already in the works to have a live-adaptation series on HBO. Martin then went on to publish Fire & Blood in 2018.

Most recently, Martin, García, and Antonsson also published The Rise of the Dragon in 2022. This book chronicles the rise of the Targaryen empire, complete with 150 new official illustrations.

Other Novels

Released in 2013, Dangerous Women is an anthology book of short stories edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. It features 21 original short stories and novellas from some of the biggest authors usually known for science fiction and fantasy.

The stories span several genres and showcase women’s capacity for bloodshed and horror. The duo wrote another anthology series, Old Mars, which is a collection of fictional stories based on Mars.

Another book edited by Martin and Dozois is Rogue, published in 2014. The book features various authors and is a cross-genre anthology featuring stories from various genres such as science fiction, mystery, historical fiction, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, comedy, tragedy, crime stories, and more.

Read More: The best George R. R. Martin books that are not Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones Video Games

Named after the series, the Game of Thrones game was released by Cyanide in 2012. It is an action role-playing game written by Martin himself. The video game is quite immersive and makes you feel as if you are a part of the medieval universe.

The series also spawned a mobile video game series named Ascent in 2013 which was suddenly shut down in 2019. This was especially disappointing since Martin himself worked on it with five other writers.

Game of Thrones (of course!)

Without George R. R. Martin, there would have been no Game of Thrones, one of the most epic series of the century so far. The series shot him to worldwide fame and probably also caused the delay with The Winds of Winter.

From 2011 to 2019, he worked as executive producer and consultant for the series. Not only that, he also used to write one episode per season before he cut back to focus on his books. The episodes are:

• Season 1: Episode 8 “The Pointy End”
• Season 2: Episode 9 “Blackwater”
• Season 3: Episode 7 “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”
• Season 4: Episode 2 “The Lion and the Rose”

What else has George R.R. Martin been up to?

1. Credited as the executive producer of Meow Wolf Origin Story (2018), Nightflyers (2018), and Dark Winds (2022).
2. Was the biggest benefactor of the art collective “Meow Wolf”
3. Campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016
4. Went on to support Joe Biden in 2020
5. Appeared on a bunch of late-night talk shows on American TV
6. Attended several conventions
7. Led on all the fans with the promise of The Winds of Winter being released sometime soon.

Well, that’s all! Let’s hope we finally get to see him finish The Winds of Winter now!

Next: When is The Winds of Winter coming out?