Last night, AMC aired the season 3 premiere of Dark Winds, about a pair of detectives working cases on a Native American reservation. In one scene, a pair of prisoners are playing a game of chess, and one is taking way too long to make a move:
Yes, that is A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin playing chess with legendary actor Robert Redford. The both of them are executive producers on the show, if you're wondering what on Earth could yank these two unlikely celebrities together. "George, the whole world's waiting," Redford's character says. "Make a move." He finally does after a great suggestion from Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon).
The line is obviously a tongue-in-cheek reference to Martin's agonizingly slow progress on The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series, adapted for TV by HBO as Game of Thrones. Fans have been waiting over a decade for the book, and some have thrown up their hands in frustration. But Martin clearly still has a sense of humor about it, and recently said that the writing was going "pretty well." He just wishes it were going "faster."
One of the reasons why progress on Winds has been so slow is because Martin is involved in a lot of other projects, Dark Winds being one of them. But if you're frustrated that Martin is filming cameos in TV shows rather than working on his book, you can rest easy knowing that Dark Winds is filmed in the American southwest, where Martin lives; it even shoots in his home city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, so I'm guessing Martin didn't have to take much time out of his schedule to do this.
As for Dark Winds, the show is based on the Leaphorn & Chee novels by Tony Hillerman. The show has garnered stellar ratings and the third season could be the best so far. New episodes air Sunday nights on AMC.
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