The Game of Thrones season 6 premiere is here: The show is debuting on April 24, and yet Winds of Winter has not been released. The show is about to pass the books, irrevocably and forever. We knew this was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier for us hardcore book fans. I suspect most of us will watch the show anyway, despite the legions of spoilers that lie ahead. But what of Winds of Winter? Could it still come out in 2016?
Could Winds of Winter Still Come Out In 2016?
It’s a great tragedy that you’re here reading about the Winds of Winter release date on the eve of Game of Thrones season 6. You should have been reading Winds of Winter itself instead, and even George R. R. Martin knows it. His big post about the book’s delay seemed genuinely apologetic: He had made a good-faith effort to get the book done on time, despite his many other commitments, and still had fallen up short. Nobody is less happy about the delay than he is.
The post, which is worth rereading, suggests that GRRM really is pretty far along—but not exactly within sight of being done. Here’s the critical line: “I am months away still... and that's if the writing goes well.” That’s back in January, and it confirmed the book’s release would miss the season premiere. But that’s pretty different from missing 2016 altogether. And he was racing toward the end for the last few months of 2015, writing and polishing.
Of course, we can’t know exactly how far along GRRM is, since he wisely won’t tell us. But it sounds like he was at least in striking distance of the end in January. Not done, but not “nowhere close” either. With luck, he’s still traipsing through toward the end.
Here’s the thing: If GRRM made a good faith effort to get Winds of Winter done by the end of 2015, which by all accounts he did, it’s not that unlikely that we’ll get a 2016 Winds of Winter release date—even now. If he kept up the same pace, he’ll finish the book a few months after he originally planned, if we’re optimistic. Of course, those are big ifs, and iDigitalTimes would never aim to speak for George R. R. Martin. But it’s not absurd that his narrow release date miss could still end up turning into a Winds of Winter release date later in 2016. And that would be exciting news for all of us.
