The esteemed fantasy author George R. R. Martin recently shared an update on his long-awaited work, 'The Winds of Winter'.
This book is the next installment in his famous 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series, which was the basis for HBO's hit series 'Game of Thrones'.
The show outpaced the books, leaving fans eagerly awaiting Martin's original vision for the story - especially following the controversial eighth season of the TV series.
"The main thing I'm actually writing, of course, is the same thing... I wish I could write as fast as [The Last Kingdom author Bernard Cornwell] but I'm 12 years late on this damn novel and I'm struggling with it," Martin said in an interview with Bangcast.
He revealed that he has written 1,100 pages so far but still has several hundred more to go. "I have like 1,100 pages written but I still have hundreds more pages to go. It's a big mother of a book for whatever reason. Maybe I should've started writing smaller books when I began this but it's tough. That's the main thing that dominates most of my working life."
These 1,100 pages sound promising until you realize that's the same number he had written as of December 2022 - nearly a full year earlier. Last year, he mentioned on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' that he had written about 1,100 to 1,200 pages.
However, there's still a chance that these pages have evolved over the year, suggesting Martin may have actually made progress, but that remains to be seen.
For those eager to return to Westeros, there's good news. 'House of the Dragon' season 2 is on its way. The series managed to continue filming despite the WGA writers' strike and SAG-AFTRA actors' strike, but it still doesn't have a firm release date.
'House of the Dragon' season 2 is expected to be released in the summer of 2024.
