It’s been longer between now and the last A Song of Ice and Fire book than it was between the time it took George RR Martin to write the first five books. It’s also been seven years since Game of Thrones concluded, which had to rely on the author’s planned-out plot points for the last two unpublished books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.
Martin may have written most of The Winds of Winter, but there’s no evidence that he’s now working on other projects as he did with the first volume of Fire & Blood. The news comes from the showrunner of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Ira Parker.
The HBO show’s second season, based on Martin’s second Dunk and Egg novella, The Sworn Sword, has wrapped. There are only three of the stories written so far (The Mystery Knight is the third), with the author planning at least two more (The Village Hero and The She-Wolves of Winterfell). Previously, Martin has said he’d write the fourth after he finished The Winds of Winter and the fifth after A Dream of Spring. But it turns out he’s already working on Dunk and Egg 4.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the show runner divulged: “I’d love to expand it from three seasons to maybe four or five. Book four, which George is working on, takes place in a very cool location.”
At the news that Martin is writing something other than The Winds of Winter, fans despaired on the ASOIAF Reddit. One of the top-voted comments read: “We’re NEVER getting Winds of Winter. Never.”