It has been over 12 years since the publication of A Dance With Dragons, the fifth novel in George R.R. Martin’s legendary A Song of Ice and Fire book series, famously adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones. Martin has two more books planned, starting with The Winds of Winter. Many fans can’t understand just what is taking him so long.
Frustrating as the wait might be, it’s all part of how Martin works. He’s an author who takes his time. Also, although writing The Winds of Winter is among his top professional priorities, it’s not the only thing occupying his time. Working on other projects has always been a part of his process. And with the success of Game of Thrones and the prequel series House of the Dragon, based on Martin’s book Fire & Blood, entirely new doors have opened up for Martin. His talents are in demand, but do these other projects pull him away from The Winds of Winter and the planned final book in his series, A Dream of Spring?
However you answer that question, Martin has a huge variety of different projects that will be coming soon to bookstores, TV and movie screens with you in the coming years (pending ends to the writers and actors’ strikes in Hollywood, anyway). Maybe it’s time for everyone to take a deep breath and just accept that there’s more to Martin’s work than just this one book series. Neil Gaiman said it well when he wrote in a 2009 blog post: “George R.R Martin is not your bitch.”
With that said, let’s take a look at every project that Martin is currently involved in other than writing The Winds of Winter, keeping in mind that it’s probably getting the bulk of his attention.
House of the Dragon
Let’s start with the big fish: HBO’s House of the Dragon. Although Martin is not as involved in the production of House of the Dragon as he was on Game of Thrones — he’s written no scripts for House of the Dragon, for example, nor was he involved with casting or even visited the set — showrunner Ryan Condal consults him about the direction of the series. Condal and Martin were friends before the show got off the ground; Martin even recommended him for the job, which is probably one of the reasons it’s been so strong.
So Martin is not spending much of his time supervising the production of House of the Dragon, but he is there for the show as needed.