You can read a lot about the Winds of Winter release date online. Heck, we’ve written about it plenty. More than plenty, perhaps. So have many others. But there’s hard truth that none of us really want to hear: We actually don’t really know anything concrete about when the sixth book will come out. Everything out there is either speculation, or at best, a somewhat optimistic twist on the news.

Winds Of Winter Release Date: When It’s Finished

Old Man Internet likes to tell tales around the fire at night, and one of his most popular is about the Winds of Winter release date. The most credible source comes from George R. R. Martin himself, and he says that he wants the book to come out before the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere, which is probably next April. He has even made comments that have been interpreted to mean that the next book could be finished as soon as November. Wouldn’t that be jolly news?

But the truth is, we really don’t know. George’s comments on the Winds of Winter release date were quite nebulous. You could interpret them to mean he’s nearly done. You could just as easily assume otherwise; it’s very ambiguous. Moreover, George… doesn’t necessarily have the best idea of his own pace. This is the man who thought Dance With Dragons would be published in 2006. It came out in 2011. This is the person who has more control over the publication date than any other person in the world, and he was off by five years. Random Internet speculators? Not so much. That’s why I won’t give you an alternate, real release date. I’m just saying… take everything you hear about the Winds of Winter publication window with a grain of salt.

Sure, George is clearly making real progress on Winds of Winter. The directors of Game of Thrones season 6 have even had access to the manuscript. So it sounds like the book has progressed a great deal in the last few years. The end is in sight now, unless George decides to retool things hugely… like he did with Feast. Maybe everything will go smoothly and all the rumors are true, and the book will be delivered in November and released before April. Maybe something will go awry. Maybe everything will go smoothly, but we’ve misinterpreted something we’ve read, or been misinformed, and Winds of Winter will come out later than that.

There’s just no way for us to know. So, sure, hope that Winds of Winter comes out before Game of Thrones season 6. I’ll be hoping that too. But I’m not counting on it. We just don’t know for sure, and skepticism has kept us from getting hurt in the past. I still cling to it now.