George R. R. Martin had paused Winds of Winter to finish Fire & Blood for House of the Dragon release

George R.R. Martin has been writing the fantasy series A Song of Ice And Fire since 1996. There are still two more books left to go before the epic series reaches its end. The next book in the series, Winds of Winter, has been in the works for 13 years so far. The author is under tremendous pressure to release the books from the fans and his publication house, Random House, but, did you know that few years ago the officials at Random House publishing advised the author to put the book aside?

In a conversation with David Anthony Durham to announce his book, The Rise of the Dragon, Martin mentioned, “When it became clear that we were going to do the Dance of the Dragon show, but that ultimately became House of the Dragon […] we wanted a book to go with that, and I already had the seeds of the book from material that was in the world of Ice and Fire and from the novellas I’d written.” 

Don’t forget to check our High Valyrian Dictionary

So the author says he went to the officials and suggested that if he should finish Fire & Blood, publish it, and then go back to A Song of Ice and Fire, to which they said yes. “So I put Winds of Winter aside for a while and I concentrated on finishing Fire and Blood. There was a lot of it already there but I had to expand it and polish it.”

Fire and Blood: A Song of Ice and Fire

$52.27 $45.74

Buy Now

We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

03/22/2025 06:42 am GMT

Fire & Blood was published in 2018, and we’re thankful for the book to give the show much more fleshed-out characters. Are you happy with Random House’s advice to keep Winds of Winter aside for a while? Let us know on our discord server.

Read Next: “Your Viserys is better than my Viserys,” George R. R. Martin tells actor Paddy Considine from House of the Dragon