Fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire have been waiting for a very long time for George R.R. Martin to finish The Winds of Winter. After that he has one more book to write in the series called A Dream of Spring.
I always thought it would be a cool surprise if after HBO’s Game of Thrones series came to an end, Martin would reveal that the books we’ve all be waiting for have already been completed. Then he’d release them and say, “this is how the story is really supposed to end!”
Well, a rumor recently surfaced from an unlikely source saying that Martin has already completed the final two books in the series! That source is Game of Thrones star Ian McElhinney, who plays Ser Barristan Selmy in the show. He dropped this bit of surprising information from out of nowhere. You can watch him drop the bombshell rumor below.
In the video above, McElhinney reveals that Martin struck a deal with the series showrunners and HBO that he would not publish the books until after the Game of Thrones series came to an end:
George has already written Books 6 and 7, and as far as he’s concerned there only are seven books. But he struck an agreement with David and Dan, the showrunners on the series, that he would not publish the final two books until the series has completed. So if all goes well, in another month or two we might get Books 6 and 7, and I’m intrigued to know how Barristan, for instance, ends up going through those final two books. George, I talked to him during Season 1 and he did say to me that Barristan had a very interesting journey. But unfortunately I didn’t get to play all of that, so we’ll have to wait and see.
After this news started spreading across the Internet, Martin caught wind of it and refuted the claim on his blog. He said that he’s not finished with The Winds of Winter and that he hasn’t even started A Dream of Spring.
All of a sudden this crazy story about my finishing The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring years ago is popping up everywhere. No, I am not going to provide links. I don’t want to reward purveyors of misinformation with hits.
I will, however, say for the record—no, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Springare not finished. Dream is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six.
It seems absurd to me that I need to state this. The world is round, the Earth revolves around the sun, water is wet…do I need to say that too? It boggles me that anyone would believe this story, even for an instant. It makes not a whit of sense. Why would I sit for years on completed novels? Why would my publishers—not just here in the US, but all around the world—ever consent to this? They make millions and millions of dollars every time a new Ice & Fire book comes out, as do I. Delaying makes no sense. Why would HBO want the books delayed? The books help create interest in the show, just as the show creates interest in the books.
I’m not sure why Ian McElhinney would say what he did if it wasn’t true. Maybe he heard a rumor from somewhere else. But, unfortunately it sounds like Martin isn’t done with the books and it makes me wonder if he’ll ever be finished.
I really hope that we get to read how he always envisioned the ending of this story, because a lot of fans think that the Game of Thrones showrunners are dropping the ball on bringing the series to a conclusion.
Via: io9