Winter isn’t anywhere close for Song of Ice and Fire readers.
By Matt Purslow
George R.R. Martin has shot down a suggestion that he has completed the final two books in the Song of Ice and Fire saga and has been withholding them until HBO’s Game of Thrones concludes.
According to Entertainment Weekly, several media reports have quoted actor Ian McElhinney, who played Ser Berristan Selmy in Game of Thrones up until season 5 in 2015, talking at a fan convention about the as-yet-unreleased books. “George has already written Books 6 and 7, and as far as he’s concerned there only are seven books,” he allegedly said. “But he struck an agreement with David and Dan, the showrunners on the series, that he would not publish the final two books until the series has completed.”
Martin has refuted these claims on his personal blog, saying “… for the record — no, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring are not finished. Dream is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six. It seems absurd to me that I need to state this.”
“HBO did not ask me to delay them,” he continued. “Nor did [showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss]. There is no “deal” to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David & Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if The Winds of Winter had been delivered and published four or five years ago… and no one would have been more delighted than me.”
That’s a definitive dismantling of what was an alarmingly bold claim from McElhinney. As such, if you’d previously read the actor’s quotes and were bracing yourself for a marathon reading session after next week’s Game of Thrones series finale (which you can find out how to stream here), it’s probably best you find some alternate reading material.
Catch up on everything that’s been happening in the show, starting with our Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 5 review, and then our predictions for what will happen in the much-anticipated final episode.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
