Moviefone Editorial

Tag: george-rr-martin

  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Will Include Starks and Direwolves

    ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Will Include Starks and Direwolves

    HBO

    In the final season of “Game of Thrones,” the White Walkers was were defeated in the course of one episode, But in HBO’s planned prequel, the White Walkers and their army of the dead will a looming threat for a very, very long time.

    Author George R.R. Martin, whose “A Song of Ice and Fire” books established the world of “Game of Thrones,” has revealed a few tantalizing details about the upcoming, still-untitled prequel in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

    The pilot, which was written by Jane Goldman with a story from Martin, takes place thousands of years before the events of “Game of Thrones.” It chronicles the world’s descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour, the Long Night.

    While the prequel is set 5,000 years before the books/television show, Martin revealed that some things will remain familiar.

    There won’t be any Lannisters, Targaryens or dragons but, “The Starks will definitely be there,” he said.

    “Obviously the White Walkers are here — or as they’re called in my books, The Others — and that will be an aspect of it. There are things like direwolves and mammoths.”

    And if you had trouble keeping track of all the different houses of the Seven Kingdoms? Try keeping up with more than 100 kingdoms, Martin teased.

    He also emphasized the ensemble nature of the cast, which includes Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson, and Josh Whitehouse.

    As for the title, which has yet to be announced, Martin still likes “The Long Night.” Unfortunately, that was the title of the Season 8 battle episode against the White Walkers.

    “I heard a suggestion that it could be called The Longest Night, which is a variant I wouldn’t mind,” he said. “That would be pretty good.”

    The pilot began shooting in June under director S.J. Clark. HBO has yet to announce if it’ll be picked up to series nor when that series would premiere.

  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Author Pushed Showrunners to Do 10 Seasons, But ‘They Won’

    ‘Game of Thrones’ Author Pushed Showrunners to Do 10 Seasons, But ‘They Won’

    Game of Thrones
    HBO

    If you think “Game of Thrones” is ending prematurely, don’t blame author George R.R. Martin.

    But feel free to blame him for how long it’s taking him to get the final two books out. It’s really no wonder he wouldn’t mind if the HBO show stretched itself out, since that would give him more time to publish the conclusion before the TV series adapts it.

    Oh well.

    GRRM was at the 2018 Emmys last night as “Game of Thrones” won Best Drama for the third time, and Peter Dinklage picked up another trophy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. (GRRM was also in the background of that proposal, which some fans took as a bad luck charm — Red Wedding, anyone?)

    Variety asked GRRM about the end of “Game of Thrones” and the upcoming spinoffs.

    The author said he would’ve been happy for the show to continue past the upcoming six-episode Season 8:

    “We could’ve gone 11, 12, 13 seasons. [Showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] have been saying for like five seasons that seven seasons is all they would go. We got them to go to eight but not any more than that. There was a period like five years ago when they were saying seven seasons and I was saying 10 seasons and they won, they’re the ones actually working on it.”

    Game of Thrones cast at 2018 Emmys, winning Best Drama Series
    NBC

    Honestly, one of the things fans should respect most about showrunners D&D is how confident and consistent they have been in their vision for the show. They knew the story they wanted to tell, and were never tempted by HBO or fans — or GRRM, apparently — to stretch it out further.

    Even though you could say they compromised to do eight seasons, the final two seasons are basically one supersized season; the first six seasons all had 10 episodes, then Season 7 had seven and Season 8 has six. That’s just three more episodes than a normal season. Sure, we’re expecting most if not all of the final episodes to be supersized — basically their own mini movies — but HBO would’ve given them anything they wanted to go further.

    Many other shows and film franchises could take a lesson from the showrunners to just stick with the vision they had before the fame set in. Don’t just continue the story because interest and $$$ are available. Only continue if you have more story to tell.

    It’s always better to leave fans wanting more. Otherwise you risk outstaying your welcome, with fans wishing the series would just end already. (*Cough* “The Walking Dead” *Cough*)

    Game of Thrones
    HBO

    The world of Westeros certainly has more stories to tell, but they will be told without D&D. Martin talked to Variety about the five prequels in development that span in time from 100 years before “Game of Thrones” to 5,000 years before “Game of Thrones.” So far, only one of the prequels has gotten a pilot order from HBO, and that one does take place thousands of years before the timeline of GoT.

    “Game of Thrones” will end with Season 8, which will premiere its six episodes in the first half of 2019. Stand by for the first trailer, photos, or really anything official. Kit Harington (Jon Snow) recently warned that not everyone will be happy with the ending.

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  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Author Suggests Title for Prequel & Updates on Other Spinoffs

    There were five prequel spinoff ideas in the works for “Game of Thrones.” One prequel was just officially announced for a pilot order. Another is officially “shelved.” Three others are still in development.

    That’s the scoop from author George R.R. Martin, whose works are being adapted for these spinoffs. He also assured readers of his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series that work on the sixth novel “The Winds of Winter,” is still his “top priority.” (Pause for your own eyeroll, if needed.)

    Martin prefers to call the spinoffs “successor shows” to “Game of Thrones.”

    The one that HBO ordered to pilot, from Jane Goldman, is set 10 thousand years before “Game of Thrones.” In his latest blog post, GRRM revealed his choice for a series title:

    “This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before GAME OF THRONES (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long).

    We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title. (My vote would be THE LONG NIGHT, which says it all, but I’d be surprised if that’s where we end up. More likely HBO will want to work the phrase “game of thrones” in there somewhere. We’ll know sooner or later).

    Yes. “Game of Thrones: The Long Night,” or some such. “The Long Night: Game of Thrones Continues.” Others are suggesting “Age of Heroes,” which would be OK, but “The Long Night” sounds less like a CW crossover.

    Here’s GRRM’s update on the other GoT spinoffs in the works:

    “As for the other successor shows… if you have been following along, you know that we started with four, and eventually went to five. One of those has been shelved, I am given to understand, and of course Jane’s pilot is now moving to film. But that does not mean the others are dead. Three more GAME OF THRONES prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development. Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain.”

    So three more remain in active development and he’s confident about at least one more pilot. Sounds good.

    Of course, we still have the final season of “Game of Thrones” to look forward to. Season 8 just held its wrap party, although filming doesn’t seem to be completely finished. HBO has yet to share a trailer or official photos or the release date, beyond telling us it will premiere in 2019.

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  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Fifth Spinoff Will Be Written by a Guy Fans Know Pretty Well

    The last of the five “Game of Thrones” prequel series writers has been revealed: He’s a longtime GoT scribe, and — at one point — a controversial one.

    According to Entertainment Weekly, GoT co-executive producer Bryan Cogman has joined the list of spinoff writers.

    Here are the previous four writers revealed:

    • Max Borenstein (“Godzilla,” “Kong: Skull Island”)
    • Jane Goldman (“Kick-Ass,” “Kingsman” and “X-Men” franchises)
    • Brian Helgeland (“Mystic River,” “A Knights Tale”)
    • Carly Wray (“Mad Men,” “The Leftovers”)

    Cogman is the only writer that was part of the “Game of Thrones” family from Season 1, when he started as an assistant to showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Cogman has written 10 episodes of GoT, including the well-regarded “Stormborn” (Season 7), “The Laws of Gods and Men” and “Oathkeeper” (Season 4), and “Kissed by Fire” (Season 3). However, he also wrote Season 5’s “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” the Sansa/Ramsay/Theon wedding night episode that polarized fans. It is the lowest-rated episode of the series to date on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.

    HBO's Post Emmy Awards Reception - ArrivalsAuthor George R.R. Martin is working with all of the prequel series writers, and he has already said it’s unlikely that all of them will find their way to the screen. He revealed there would be five writers back in May, although he didn’t name Cogman at the time. Martin did gush, though, “He’s a really terrific addition, however, a great guy and a fine writer, and aside from me and maybe Elio and Linda, I don’t know anyone who knows and loves Westeros as well as he does.”

    GRRM also revealed, at the time, that the “sucessor shows” (his preferred term, over spinoffs) would NOT follow Robert’s Rebellion or Dunk & Egg. It remains to be seen what any of the five prequels in the works will cover, or which ones will progress the fastest and actually arrive on screen.

    All of that will happen after the final season of “Game of Thrones,” which is now in pre-production, with Season 8 set to start filming in October to premiere … sometime. HBO hasn’t revealed the premiere date yet, but it’s hoped to be in 2018 and not 2019.

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  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Fans Freaked Out by Kit Harington’s Resemblance to Young George R.R. Martin

    Premiere Of HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' Season 7 - Red CarpetThrow out all of “Game of Thrones” fans, ’cause this is a Gilly-reads-aloud-level revelation.

    Jon Snow’s true father isn’t Ned Stark or Rhaegar Targaryen, it’s George R.R. Martin. Not only did Martin create the universe of “Game of Thrones,” he even used to look like the guy currently playing King Jon on HBO.

    Looking at GRRM now, you’d never know this…

    SiriusXM's Entertainment Weekly Radio Channel Broadcasts from Comic-Con 2014… But fans dug up an old photo of the author, and placed it side-by-side with a photo of Kit Harington.

    Here’s the pic, posted by Buzzfeed’s Ryan Broderick, who wrote, “wanna see something wicked f*cked up?”

    Fans reacted in their own special ways.

    So much makes sense now. And yet, there are so many new questions. We can’t expect answers on this front in the Season 7 finale, but we are expecting some other revelations.

    Season 7, Episode 7, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” aka the finale, airs this Sunday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. on HBO.

    [h/t: Us Weekly]

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  • George R.R. Martin Isn’t Watching ‘Game of Thrones’

    San Francisco Premiere Of HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' Season 5 - ArrivalsUPDATE: George R.R. Martin later clarified his comments via email with Entertainment Weekly, saying he didn’t recall ever saying he didn’t watch the acclaimed HBO drama series. He thought maybe something got lost in translation, since his comments came during a fan convention in Russia. “During his trip abroad he didn’t watch any television — and he’s behind on Thrones’ current seventh season. So perhaps that was a source of confusion. But Martin does watch the series.”

    Original post:

    George R.R. Martin isn’t watching “Game of Thrones,” so no spoilers, guys! Oh … wait. He created the damn thing.

    The author recently told Metro that he is too busy writing and touring to watch the HBO show anymore. He previously wrote one episode of “Game of Thrones” in each of the first four seasons. But since then, he’s concentrated on finishing “Winds of Winter,” the six novel in his epic fantasy novel series.

    Also, perhaps Martin doesn’t want to be influenced by events on the show, which have now outpaced his books.

    “The book series and TV adaptation go their separate ways,” he noted. “On the screen, characters are killed right and left. About 20 of them have died already, which are quite alive to me and will appear in a new book.”

    Martin’s fans probably hope he doesn’t get sucked into a binge-watch of the recent seasons; they’ve been waiting over six years for “The Winds of Winter” — which, unfortunately, is still not completed.

    “I did not start to write slower over the years. I was working on the first book for six years and four years on the second one,” he said. “In addition, I have not become younger. Age does not add enthusiasm.”

  • ‘Game of Thrones’: HBO Is Now Doing 5 Prequels, But NOT Robert’s Rebellion

    Gods be good, this thing just keeps getting bigger, and still more mysterious. “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin is not a fan of the term “spinoff” when it comes to HBO’s potential new shows based on his material, but he did just confirm that a fifth writer was added to the original four, working on a fifth “successor show” script, and they will all be prequels. However, he also warned fans that two popular “spinoff” (sorry) story choices have been crossed off, and will not be among the five shows.

    In a new blog post titled “About Those Spinoffs…,” the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series author wrote that decades of experience in television have led him to believe we probably won’t get all five stories from his world of Westeros (and beyond) on TV:

    “At least not immediately. What we do have here is an order for four — now five — pilot scripts. How many pilots will be filmed, and how many series might come out of that, remains to be seen. (If we do get five series on the air, I might have to change my name to Dick Direwolf).”

    He also revealed at least two plots that won’t be developed for screen:

    “I can’t tell you what the shows will be about (well, I could, but I won’t), but I will tell you a couple of things they WON’T be. Which will disappoint some of you, sure, but better to do that now than later, I think.

    We’re not doing Dunk & Egg. Eventually, sure, I’d love that, and so would many of you. But I’ve only written and published three novellas to date, and there are at least seven or eight or ten more I want to write. We all know how slow I am, and how fast a television show can move. I don’t want to repeat what happened with GAME OF THRONES itself, where the show gets ahead of the books. When the day comes that I’ve finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we’ll do a tv show about them… but that day is still a long ways off.

    We’re not doing Robert’s Rebellion either. I know thousands of you want that, I know there’s a petition… but by the time I finish writing A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert’s Rebellion. There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That’s not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale.”

    Ah well. There’s still potential for a story about The Targaryen Dragons of lore. Can’t imagine what the five are about if it’s too soon for “Dunk and Egg” (“A Song of Ice and Fire” prequels set in the world of King Aegon V Targaryen, aka Egg), and Robert’s Rebellion (aka Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen’s war over Lyanna Stark, sending young Daenerys Targaryen and her mad bro into exile).

    Martin also clarified that he’s working with all of the writers, not just the two mentioned in the previous report, and — yes — he is still working on the sixth book in “A Song of Ice and Fire,” “The Winds of Winter.” He didn’t share the name of the fifth writer, figuring HBO will do that, he just wrote, “He’s a really terrific addition, however, a great guy and a fine writer, and aside from me and maybe Elio and Linda, I don’t know anyone who knows and loves Westeros as well as he does.”

    Here’s a bit more of GRRM’s post, sharing his preferred language when talking about all of this.

    “For what it’s worth, I don’t especially like the term ‘spinoff,’ and I don’t think it really applies to these new projects. What we’re talking about are new stories set in the ‘secondary universe’ (to borrow Tolkien’s term) of Westeros and the world beyond, the world I created for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. It is a world, and a pretty big one, and if there were eight million stories in the naked city back in the 50s, just think how many more there are in an entire world, and one with thousands of years of recorded history.

    None of these new shows will be ‘spinning off’ from GOT in the traditional sense. We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another. So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie are doomed to disappointment. Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel. Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than ‘spinoff’ or ‘prequel,’ however, I prefer the term ‘successor show.’ That’s what I’ve been calling them.”

    “Game of Thrones” is really just the title of GRRM’s first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire,” but it stayed the title of the whole HBO series. That series continues with the start of Season 7 on Sunday, July 16.

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  • HBO Is Developing Four ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoffs (Yes, Four)

    Send a raven. Then send another. And then two more. Send the bloody lot of ’em, ’cause there will be loads of “Game of Thrones” news to talk about in the next few years.

    “Game of Thrones” Season 7 premieres this July, then there’s just one more season of the main show before it’s over. HBO has talked about wanting some kind of spinoff — a prequel, sequel, companion, etc. — but now we have an official update from the network itself: They are doing FOUR spinoffs.

    HBO says four writers will join “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin to develop new GoT offshoot series. It’s not clear if they will be sequels, prequels, or a combo of both, but we did get the hint that they will “explore different time periods of George R.R. Martin’s vast and rich universe.”

    GoT showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff are attached as executive producers on all four projects, along with GRRM, but they will not be writing these new series. Instead, HBO announced the writers:

    • Max Borenstein (Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island)
    • Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, Kingsman and X-Men franchises), George R. R. Martin
    • Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, A Knights Tale)
    • Carly Wray (AMC’s Mad Man), George R. R. Martin

    The four projects are “in development,” so there are no further updates yet on casting, filming, or scheduling in terms of when they might air on the network. Heck, we don’t even know for sure if all of them will make it to air. Hopefully at least one of the spinoffs covers Robert’s Rebellion. It would also be nice to see the previous dragons of Westeros.

    “Game of Thrones” Season 7 premieres Sunday, July 16 on HBO.

    [via: Deadline, EW]

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  • Kit Harington Says Not Knowing How ‘Game of Thrones’ Will End Is ‘Amazing’

    Ready to see Kit Harington play a different kind of unlikely hero? Only this time, there are no dragons, dire wolves, or White Walkers in sight.

    The “Game of Thrones” star has a key role in “Brimstone,” the bleak, violent and uncompromising Western from Dutch filmmaker Martin Koolhoven (now in select theaters and available On Demand/Digital HD). The film slowly, over the course of four in-film “chapters,” unveils the grim circumstances in which a young, mute frontier midwife and mother (Dakota Fanning) finds herself the target of an obsessed and unrelenting fire-and-brimstone preacher (Guy Pearce). Harington plays Samuel, a wounded cowboy running from trouble, who receives shelter from the 14-year-old Liz (Emilia Jones) and leaves a lasting mark on the girl as her life descends into horror.

    Once again, Harington treads into territory that unflinchingly explores violence, brutality, and their aftereffects, much like the HBO fantasy series he’s best known for. After wrapping filming on the upcoming seventh season, he admits that he’s still marveling on how the show has moved forward so strongly, without a new volume in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire” series to shape it.

    Moviefone: “Brimstone” is quite an amazing piece of filmmaking, and I imagine it was a very easy “yes” for you to get involved. But what were the specific motivators for you? What were the things you saw in the character and in the story that really got you excited creatively?

    Kit Harington: I’ll be honest: I read the script a while before I joined it. Then, as sometimes happens, the role went to someone else. It went to Robert Pattinson. I kind of put it to bed in my head. Then whatever happened happened, and I came aboard very late.

    I think first and foremost, I really wanted this role from the get-go because the script was so strong. It was so interesting. It was so surreal. It wasn’t really specific to any kind of genre.
    It takes a pretty unflinching look at violence and its consequences, and also very dark elements of sexuality, and both are things that you’re also familiar with from “Game of Thrones.” Why are these things, do you feel, important to explore artistically for you right now?

    I think I’ve always been an advocate of going to really disturbing places in the dramas that we see, and to places of real violence. It could be a very controversial and very difficult subject to tackle on film, especially violence against women, and making sure that we’re not trying to use it as just a plot device.

    And I think this piece was really about a young woman’s fortitude, and her journey through very tough and difficult and brutal things happen that in her life, and I feel that was a story that was worth telling.

    Once you showed up to play the part, what was the interesting twists and turns for you as an actor in portraying this character?

    It was strange because it was offered to me and I had, like, a day to prepare. I had very little time. I had to, like, get on a flight the next day and just do this part -– which, usually, you’ve got a couple of months maybe — at least — to kind of get your head into a role. So, I had to make some very quick choices on the character, and that was challenging.

    But I like the antihero-ness of this man. You’re not quite sure where he is. Obviously, he’s a thief and he’s in with a bad crowd, and yet he finds his own redemption through helping this young woman. I think it’s a very short journey that my character takes in the film. It’s in one chapter. I was quite drawn into trying to tell that story quickly.

    Despite that small arc, he’s very pivotal to the overall story, so that must have been an extra bit of fun trying to keep that in mind, how large he looms in her life.

    We go through life, and some people are in our lives for a very short space of time, but they can have great impact. This movie is about different periods of this woman’s life, which have taken on great importance. He’s one of those memories. He’s one of those chapters as someone who tried to help her see there could be goodness in this world. There could be people who would help her, who could help her. I think that was interesting playing a memory in some ways, like coming in to play a memory of the lead character.
    This marks a major arrival of a filmmaker in Martin Koolhoven, working for the first time in an English language film. Tell me about your experiences working with him.

    I really got on with Martin. He’s one of those directors who knows his piece fully. He’s written it, and he knows it so well, and he knows very much what he wants to do. There was no guessing involved with Martin, and there was no shirking what his vision was.

    He’s very direct, and also very kind and very loving, and he kept a set that loved him deeply. You could see the people he works with really, really have a lot of care for this man, and they like him.

    You have obviously a limited amount of time to shoot movies in between working on “Game of Thrones.” Are there certain things that you kind of look for? Obviously, the schedule realities are important, but are there kinds of roles, or types of genres, that you’re especially looking for?

    I’m so greedy in that way! I’m lucky in that I get options and offers. I always want to try and do something different from “Thrones,” if I can; a character that’s not a sword-wielding hero, because I do that for half the year. So I would look at something away from that, but other than that, it’s always on the scripts and the filmmaker. It’s always on when you read a script — is there something that grabs you?

    I read so many scripts that I love and I think are brilliant, but I just know I can’t do the character. I know the character -– even if it’s not for me, they think it is. Sometimes you’re turning things down that are really great. You just know you won’t do it justice.
    As you left last season at “Thrones,” the bar was higher than ever -– and congratulations on what a phenomenal season that was. Tell me what it was like for you all coming back together, again sort of in that uncharted territory without an existing George R.R. Martin book already laying down a road map, and knowing where you left it.

    It’s just amazing, in some ways, having no book to go on, because the scripts come through and you’re completely in the dark about what they’re going to do. Believe me, I just finished Season Seven, and I am already counting down the days until I get the Season Eight scripts.

    Everyone’s been wondering how it’s going to end, and what’s going to happen right from the get-go, and theorizing about it. It’s really exciting to me not knowing, genuinely having no idea where it’s going to end, what they’ve got in their heads, and being the first to find out.

    At this point, having evolved him over all these seasons, what do you still love about Jon Snow? Do you feel protective about him at this point and keeping his nobility intact, or are you looking for more evolution?

    I sort of know where he is now. Next season will be next season, he might go through a big change, I don’t know. He’s dear to me. I’ve lived with him for so long. I think I’ve come into a place of felling quite emotional about him, actually, knowing that I’m not going to get to go back to him after next year.

    I’m really trying to just take stock of having lived this sort of dual life with this character, and being through so much with this character. It’s been a strange journey, but I’ll always be fond of it.

  • No, ‘The Winds of Winter’ Release Date Did Not Leak

    UPDATE: George R.R. Martin’s U.S. publisher, Random House, issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly refuting Amazon France’s listing of a March 2017 release date for “The Winds of Winter.” The statement says:

    “As his publisher, we support George RR Martin as he works hard to finish The Winds of Winter. Any on-sale dates currently listed online for the novel are incorrect. Once we have a publication date for The Winds of Winter, the world will know.”

    Our original report speculating about the veracity of that date (spoiler alert: we weren’t exactly optimistic that it was correct) is below.

    ORIGINAL REPORT:

    “Game of Thrones” fans will have to wait longer than usual for the next season of the show to premiere, but they may have something to help tide them over in the meantime: The next installment in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, the inspiration behind the hit HBO show.

    Amazon France just posted a listing for the long-awaited sixth book in the series, “The Winds of Winter,” with a release date of March 9, 2017. As of 2 p.m. EST Tuesday, the listing was still live. (UPDATE: The listing has since been edited to remove the release date entirely, reflecting the above statement from Random House.)
    the winds of winter, winds of winter, release date, rumor, amazon, george r.r. martin, a song of ice and fire, game of thrones
    So is this legit, or are fans being scammed? It’s almost certainly the latter, though that hasn’t stopped “GOT” faithful from getting their hopes up anyway, as they prepare for the interminable wait for new episodes (due out sometime during summer 2017). Of course, there are a bunch of factors working against the theory that this is the actual release date, namely that Martin himself has yet to say anything about it — and he’s insisted in the past that any real news about the book will come straight from him before it’s revealed anywhere else.

    Then there’s the fact that we’ve been burned by similar news before, like when the Spanish publisher of the “Song of Ice and Fire” books insisted back in September 2015 that the tome was due out sometime in spring 2016. And as we know by now, that didn’t turn out to be true at all.

    Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Martin’s UK publisher, HarperCollins, told one news outlet (EW didn’t specify which) that “nothing has been finalized regarding the publication or the date.” That may be deflection, but it’s probably true. After all, it’s been more than five years since the last “Ice and Fire” novel, “A Dance With Dragons,” hit shelves; winter may finally have arrived on the show, but it’s anyone’s guess when “Winter” will actually appear.

    [via: Amazon France, h/t Entertainment Weekly]