George R.R. Martin has not yet given a specific release date for "The Winds of Winter," the much-awaited sixth installment in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series. Yet, earlier this month the best-selling author treated his avid fans with an excerpt from the upcoming book, as well as a hint of a huge plot twist that may not appear on "Game of Thrones," the mega-hit TV adaptation of his book series.
The 66-year-old author recently told EW that he's aiming to complete "The Winds of Winter" before the sixth season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" premieres next year. He revealed he had skipped some scripting work on GoT and turned down a lot of interviews to get the book done, especially now that the HBO series is reportedly catching up with the books.
As proof of his dedication to finishing "The Winds of Winter," Martin posted on his website a sample chapter from the forthcoming book, entitled "Alayne." The excerpt is written from Sansa Stark's point-of-view and is mostly about her life as Alayne Stone, the bastard daughter of Petyr Baelish in the vale.
In addition, Martin revealed to EW that the book will contain a major, revealing twist on a long-time character that he had never considered before. He shared the twist will be shocking enough "to drive [the] readers crazy."
"I love it. I'm still weighing whether to go that direction or not. It's a great twist," the "Game of Thrones" writer said. He referred to the plot twist not as just shocking or unexpected, but as "something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen."
However, Martin hinted the revealing twist on the character won't be seen on the popular TV series. "It's nothing they can do in the show, because the show has already-on this particular character-made a couple decisions that will preclude it, where in my case I have not made those decisions," said Martin.
Join the Conversation