‘The Winds of Winter’ Release Date, Spoilers: 2019 Launch Possible as George R.R. Martin Promises to Prioritize It?

There is barely a couple of months left until 2018 ends but fans still do not know anything about the launch of “The Winds of Winter.” But does George R.R. Martin’s most recent statement about the book series increases the possibility for a 2019 launch?

The renowned fantasy and sci-fi novelist repeatedly admitted to his fans that he has many other projects to work on other than the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. For one, he is launching “Fire and Blood” this month, which is also set in Westeros but a beginning of a completely different book saga. But on a positive note, Martin promised that this development also means “The Winds of Winter” is next on his to-do list.

In an interview with the Guardian, Martin confirmed “The Winds of Winter” is now his priority since “Fire and Blood” is ready to hit the stores. “‘The Winds of Winter’ is next, then I’ll decide what comes after that,” the author said.

What this means is if “The Winds of Winter” will be released in 2019, he is not yet certain if he would immediately jump into working on “A Dream of Spring” — the conclusion to the “ASoIaF” series. “I’ll worry about that one thing at a time – that’s too far ahead,” Martin added.

All hope of seeing “The Winds of Winter” this year was lost when Martin announced last April that “winter is not coming… not in 2018.” Since then, fans started hoping and speculating that 2019 could be their lucky year. There are suggestions that Martin, at the very least, already has a draft of “The Winds of Winter” since he kept estimating to finish the book in 2016 and the years that followed.

However, Redditor u/jvlealc speculated that Martin might have hit a slump in the rewriting part. While Martin never specified the progress he has made with “The Winds of Winter,” he admitted in the same interview with the Guardian that he has been “struggling with it for a few years.”