The Winds of Winter, the eagerly awaited sixth installment in George R.R. Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, stands as one of the most anticipated works of fiction. This next chapter in the fantasy saga, which inspired HBO's Game of Thrones, has been in development since the release of the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, back in 2011. In the intervening 13 years, HBO has produced Seasons 2-8 of Game of Thrones and Seasons 1 and 2 of its first spinoff, House of the Dragon.

As George R.R. Martin diligently works on this next novel, we have gathered comprehensive insights into The Winds of Winter. From Martin's comments on the book's length and expected publishing timeline to details about the story, characters, and divergences from the TV series, here's everything we know.

Jump to:

• When will it come out?
• How long will it be?
• Story details
• Book vs. TV series

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Winds of Winter Release Date

There is currently no definitive release date or window for The Winds of Winter.

Initially, Martin and his publishers aimed to complete the manuscript by the end of October 2015, with a planned release in March 2016, ahead of Game of Thrones Season 6. This target was later pushed to the end of 2015, but the manuscript remained unfinished. By January 2017, Martin expressed hope that the book would be out before the end of that year. In 2020, he set a goal to finish the initial draft by 2021, but this timeline also did not come to fruition. This was the last public estimate Martin provided.

In October 2022, Martin stated he was about 75% done with the manuscript. However, progress seemed to stall, as he reported completing 1,100 pages in both December 2022 and November 2023. In a December 2024 interview, Martin acknowledged the possibility that he might not finish The Winds of Winter within his lifetime.

Winds of Winter Length

The Winds of Winter is expected to span approximately 1,500 pages. As of November 2023, Martin had written around 1,100 pages and mentioned having "hundreds more pages to go." The final two books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series are projected to exceed 3,000 pages in total. If The Winds of Winter reaches 1,500 pages, it will be the longest book in the series, surpassing the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, which was just over 1,000 pages in its original hardcover format.

Winds of Winter Story

This section contains no spoilers, only the names of characters expected to appear in The Winds of Winter.

The Winds of Winter will pick up where the fourth and fifth books, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, left off. These books followed different characters but ran parallel in time. In a 2012 interview with Smarter Travel, Martin revealed that the book would start with significant events:

"There were a lot of cliffhangers at the end of A Dance with Dragons. Those will be resolved very early. I’m going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice [between the forces of Stannis Baratheon and Roose Bolton in and around Winterfell] and the battle at Meereen — the battle of Slaver’s Bay [between the forces of Daenerys Targaryen and the slavers of Yunkai across the Narrow Sea]."

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Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister's paths will intersect "in a way," according to Martin's 2014 interview with EW. "But for much of the book, they're still apart. They both have quite large roles to play here. Tyrion has decided that he actually would like to live, for one thing, which he wasn’t entirely sure of during the last book, and he’s now working toward that end — if he can survive the battle that’s breaking out all around him. And Dany has embraced her heritage as a Targaryen and embraced the Targaryen words. So they’re both coming home."

In the same interview, Martin confirmed the return of the Dothraki "in a big way," and hinted at significant developments at The Wall. Additionally, he mentioned that Winds will introduce his "interesting take on unicorns." Martin has warned readers to brace for a darker narrative, stating at the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2016, "It is called The Winds of Winter, and I’ve been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places."

Winds of Winter Characters

As of 2016, Martin did not plan to introduce new point-of-view (POV) characters in The Winds of Winter. The confirmed POV characters, based on Martin's released preview chapters, blog posts, and public readings, include:

• Tyrion Lannister
• Cersei Lannister
• Jaime Lannister and/or Brienne of Tarth
• Arya Stark
• Sansa Stark
• Bran Stark
• Theon Greyjoy
• Asha Greyjoy
• Victarion Greyjoy
• Aeron Greyjoy/Damphair
• Barristan Selmy
• Arianne Martell
• Areo Hotah
• Jon Connington

While not officially confirmed, Daenerys Targaryen is expected to return as a POV character. Other potential POV characters include Davos Seaworth, Samwell Tarly, and Melisandre. Additionally, Robb Stark’s wife, Jeyne Westerling (replaced by Talisa Maegyr in the TV series), will appear in the prologue, though it's unclear if she will be a POV character.

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Winds of Winter: Book vs. TV Show

The Winds of Winter will diverge significantly from the Game of Thrones TV series due to the books' larger scope and more extensive cast. Martin has indicated that some characters who died in the show will live in the books, and vice versa. New characters not seen on the show will play crucial roles.

In a 2022 blog post, Martin elaborated on these differences:

"What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.

And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair. They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show. I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling. Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine. Quaithe still has a part to play. So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why Winds is taking so long. This is hard, guys).

Oh, and there will be new characters as well. No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.

One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice & Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice & Fire. (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all.) ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening)).

And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not."

Martin's statements offer reassurance to fans disappointed by the rushed pacing of Game of Thrones' final season, suggesting a richer and more detailed narrative in the books.

One intriguing hint: Martin mentioned in a 2016 interview with IGN that The Winds of Winter will include a significant twist not feasible for the TV series. "It’s something that involves a couple of characters," said Martin, "one of whom is dead in the show [by the end of Season 5] but not dead in the books."

A Dream of Spring and Other Future Works

A Dream of Spring, the seventh and final book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, is also expected to be at least 1,500 pages long. Speaking at the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2016, Martin hinted at the tone of the ending: "I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to end my book, but I suspect the overall flavor is going to be as much bittersweet as it is happy." No release timeline has been set for A Dream of Spring.

In addition to completing The Winds of Winter and planning A Dream of Spring, Martin is working on a second volume of his Targaryen history, potentially titled Blood & Fire, and more stories in his Tales of Dunk and Egg series, which will serve as the basis for HBO's upcoming spinoff, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Martin also continues to edit the Wild Cards series, a shared-universe sci-fi anthology he created in 1987, and serves as a producer for House of the Dragon and AMC's Dark Winds.

For more on A Song of Ice and Fire, check out our guide on how to read the Game of Thrones books in order.