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By Austin Boyd
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No TV franchise has had a bigger comeback in 2026 than "Game of Thrones." While "House of the Dragon" got a lot of people excited about the world of Ice and Fire, a somewhat lackluster second season made people sour on the franchise again.
However, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" has been a massive success and has fans hankering for more stories set in the world of Westeros. Unfortunately, the whole story is built around "A Song of Ice & Fire," which is what the original "Game of Thrones" series adapted.
While the series was one of the most popular in TV history, a maligned final season ruined what many people thought of the series as a whole. Author George R.R. Martin is the brains behind the entire world, but he didn't have a chance to finish his book series before the TV series caught up. Since the way the story on the TV series wrapped up in a way that is almost universally hated, many fans have been clamoring for the final books, which are titled "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring."
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Martin has been taking his time finishing these books, and people are worried he might never. However, there's been some renewed faith after the finale of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."
Spoilers for the season finale below...
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During the season finale for "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," Ser Arlan of Pennytree is telling Duncan a story before he drifts off into what appears to be his death. However, he awakens and tells Duncan that, "A true knight always finishes a story."
This seems like an obvious dig at Martin for his inability to finish "A Song of Ice & Fire," but he's heavily involved with "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Martin hasn't had a great sense of humor about this topic in the past, so it'd be odd for him to approve Ser Arlan's line.
This has led to a lot of speculation that Martin is planning a surprise drop of "The Winds of Winter" by the end of the year.
Now, nothing has been confirmed, and Martin only recently gave an update on "The Winds of Winter."
"I have to write more Dunk and Egg," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter. "There’s supposed to be another Fire and Blood book, too. I do think if I can just get some of these other things off my back, I could finish The Winds of Winter pretty soon. It’s been made clear to me that Winds is the priority, but … I don’t know. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for that."
Martin could be saying that to help maintain the surprise. At this point, it would make more sense for him not to commit to any release date and drop the novel by surprise. It remains to be seen if "The Winds of Winter" will ever hit shelves, but with the renewed interest in his stories, Martin could finally feel the necessary motivation to show the world the story he meant to tell.
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