“These last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages”: George R.R. Martin Is Never Finishing Game of Thrones When You Know His Original Plan

SUMMARY

• Author George R.R. Martin rose to fame with his epic fantasy saga A Song of Ice and Fire, spawning the hit series Game of Thrones.
• Martin admitted in 2019 that he was planning to write over 3000 pages in the final two books, which seems overly ambitious.
• In a recent interview, Martin refused to give a timeline for finishing the fantasy saga, hinting he might never actually finish the books.

Author George R.R. Martin birthed the global phenomenon that is the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones. The series was adapted from his A Song of Ice and Fire novels and garnered critical acclaim before concluding with a lackluster final season in 2019. However, Martin has yet to conclude the story on his terms in the books.

George R.R. Martin (Credit: Sanna Pudas, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

In one of his famous blog posts, Martin detailed his original plan to finish the books, which would have an astounding word count. However, looking back at the author’s audacious plans and the time that has passed since the last novel in the series, it is hard to argue that Martin will ever finish the epic fantasy saga, and here is why.

George R.R. Martin revealed his original plan to end A Song of Ice and Fire books

In 1996, George R.R. Martin released A Game of Thrones, the first installment in his epic fantasy saga set in Westeros. The book was followed by four further installments that garnered critical acclaim and established A Song of Ice and Fire as one of the best fantasy sagas.

George R.R. Martin hasn’t written a new ASOIAF book in 13 years (Credit: Voyager Books)

In 2011, the television adaptation, titled Game of Thrones premiered on HBO. The year also marked the publication of the latest entry in the book series. However, in the interim, no new books in the mainline series were published despite Martin expressing his plans to wrap up the saga with two more books.

Back in 2019, when the television adaptation concluded, delivering a vastly polarizing series finale, Martin took to his personal blog to share his thoughts. At the same time, the author highlighted his audacious plans to wrap up the story in the final two books.

I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done… and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them.

Martin wrote the above comments in his blog, referencing the final two books, which are tentatively titled The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

From Martin’s words, it is safe to say that his original plan was to produce an astounding 3000 pages of manuscript for concluding the fantasy saga, which is certainly no easy feat. At the same time, considering how little progress the author has made towards the publication of the penultimate novel, it is hard to imagine he will ever finish the story.

George R.R. Martin admitted he might never finish writing A Song of Ice and Fire

Although Martin has been writing the final two books at a snail’s pace, the television side of his works has picked up steam once again with House of the Dragon continuing its fine form with its sophomore season that concluded this year.

George R.R. Martin confirms he is too far behind on finishing the books (Credit: Conan | TBS).

In December 2024, Martin sat down for a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, where the veteran writer was asked for an update on the next book in his fantasy saga. In response, Martin stated:

[They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know.

From Martin’s words, it seems like the author isn’t very confident about finishing the series or at least does not know an estimated timeline for when he might finish the next book.

The author also expressed surprise at the fact that he was thirteen years behind on his writing schedule, which only adds another layer of pessimism about the prospects of ever getting to read the final installment. Nonetheless, Martin confirmed that finishing the books was a priority for him, so fans might not give up hope just yet.

Game of Thrones is streaming on Max.

Written by Pratik Handore

Articles Published: 1097

Pratik is a writer at FandomWire, with a content writing experience of five years. Although he has a Bachelors in Hospitality, his fascination with all things pop culture led him to writing articles on a variety of topics ranging from latest streaming releases to unheard movie trivia. When not writing, you can find him reading manga, or watching classic TV shows.