"The Winds of Winter," the sixth of the "Song of Ice and Fire" books, has yet to be given an official release date, but author George R.R. Martin has confirmed that he is working on it, leading fans to speculate that it may still launch prior to the premiere of "Game of Thrones" season 7, the show based on the aforementioned books.
Speaking to Deadline following the recent Emmy Awards, Martin first confirmed that if HBO were to work on a prequel series, there was enough material from the books for them to draw inspiration from, although even he was unaware if there were solid plans being ironed out.
He then explained his priority was to finish "The Winds of Winter," stating: "I do have thousands of pages of fake history of everything that led up to 'Game of Thrones,' so there's a lot of material there and I'm writing more. At the moment we still have this show to finish and I still have two books to finish so that's all speculation."
The book is expected to launch prior to the premiere of the show's next season, and a report from Esquire may have leaked when the book is exactly going to be available. According to the report, Amazon France has listed "The Winds of Winter" for a March 2017 release.
It should be noted that this could have been an error, or the date is merely a placeholder until an official date is announced. Neither Harper Collins nor Penguin Random House, Martin's publishers in the UK and US respectively, have commented regarding the leaked information and its accuracy.
"The Winds of Winter" will see Daenerys Targaryen finish the war between Mereen and the rest of Slaver's Bay, and begin her journey to Westeros, while Jon Snow's fate will be decided, and the Others, known as the White Walkers in the show, begin their march to the Wall.
