George R.R. Martin gives updates on The Winds of Winter, House of the Dragon

George R.R. Martin has taken to his Not a Blog and given fans another update about The Winds of Winter. No, we still don’t have a release date, but at least the work continues. “I am still up in the mountains, doing the social distancing rag, and writing WINDS OF WINTER,” Martin writes. “I have good days and bad days, but I am making progress.”

Basically, this is nothing we haven’t heard before, although I take heart that Martin at least feels comfortable sharing these updates with us. I feel like if progress wasn’t at least being made, he wouldn’t feel good enough to say anything. Or maybe it’s just the quarantine talking.

Martin also ruminated on the state of Hollywood, wondering if we’ll eventually run out of new shows to watch if the pandemic continues to shut down productions around the world. “If so, sheltering in place is going to get an order of magnitude harder.  Television right now is doing a lot to keep us all sane.” Amen to that.

And of course, Martin is himself involved with a few shows on HBO, although he’s careful to point out that The Winds of Winter is the only thing he’s actually writing, no doubt trying to get ahead of the “get back to work, George” crowd.

"[W]hile nothing is being filmed right now, development is continuing apace, since writers can still write at home.  The only thing I am writing myself is THE WINDS OF WINTER, as I have said many times… but with my producer’s hat on, I am still involved in a number of exciting new shows for HBO, and a few film projects as well.  When and if any of these make it to the screen, well, that’s always the question… but I do know that Ryan Condal and his team are roaring ahead on the scripts for HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, and that one has a full season’s order from HBO.  As for the other stuff I may or may not be involved in, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you all."

House of the Dragon is HBO’s follow-up to Game of Thrones, a show set during the height of the Targaryen dynasty…right before they ruined it by engaging in a brutal civil war, with dragons fighting dragons and family members at each other’s throats, all of it based on Martin’s history of the event, Fire & Blood. The potential for awesomeness is high, but as Martin says, at the moment, there’s little showrunner Martin Condal and his team can do beyond polish the scripts. But hey, if that extra time in the oven results in a better pie, it’s all for the good.

Meanwhile, Martin is shuttering the storefronts for his business, the Jean Cocteau Theater and Beastly Books, although the first is holding virtual screenings and the second is still selling books online. (“[T]hat GRRM guy did some good stuff too, before he started that fantasy series,” Martin quipped. “Some of his old stories might even make good movies, donchaknow.”) Martin is also paying the staff during the shutdown, which is laudable.

He’ll also be the virtual toastmaster at this year’s Hugo Award ceremony, which will obviously be held remotely in light of the plague.

Other than that, it’s business as usual. “There’s more, of course,” Martin writes. “There’s always more. But this post has grown long enough, and Westeros is calling.”

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