George R.R. Martin reveals his biggest Game of Thrones regret

George R.R. Martin has revealed one of his biggest regrets about writing Game of Thrones – and fans think it explains why The Winds of Winter is taking so long.

Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series kicked off with A Game of Thrones in 1991. Since then, he’s released four follow-ups: A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), A Feast for Crows (2005), and A Dance with Dragons (2011).

He’s written other books set in the same universe, like the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas (the source material behind the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spinoff) and Fire & Blood, the inspiration for House of the Dragon.

However, much to readers’ perpetual dismay, he still hasn’t concluded his original saga. The Winds of Winter has been in the works for at least 15 years, but it’s not like Martin isn’t trying to finish the story – rather, it seems like he can’t.

HBO

Martin appeared at an Oxford Writers’ House event, where he was asked what he’d change about Game of Thrones.

He cited Gene Wolf, who wrote The Book of the New Sun in his spare time. “He didn’t submit them to an editor, which is the way it usually did. He didn’t get a contract and a deadline, he finished all four books,” he explained.

“By the time he finished the fourth book he was able to see the things in the first book that didn’t really fit anymore; where the book had drifted away, where it had changed, so he was able to go back and revise the first book. Only when all four were finished did Gene submit the book, and the series was bought and published.”

Martin said he “envied” that freedom, as he was living solely on the revenue from his books. Simply put, he had bills to pay, which meant he had books to write, so he couldn’t tinker with what was already written.

Bantam Books

“But there is something very liberating from an artistic point of view if you don’t have to worry, you know if you happen to inherit a huge trust fund or a castle or something like that and you can write your entire series without having to sell it without having to worry about deadlines,” he continued.

“Believe it or not, I am not taking all that time to write Winds of Winter just because I think I’m Gene Wolfe now, I would love to have it finished years ago… but yeah that’s the big thing I think I would change.”

It seems obvious: The Winds of Winter is taking so long because Martin is struggling to funnel everything he’s introduced into a satisfying ending.

“That’s quite telling. He’s clearly saying that there’s things in retrospect that he wished he’d never added to the series and that is bogging him down now,” one Redditor wrote.

“To make it sadder. The stuff he is regretting may even be some of the more popular stuff. A double-edged problem,” another wrote.

“There is simply some stuff that he can’t tie together. It is so obvious it blocks him to finish the book. I wonder which storyline he hates the most for introducing,” a third commented.

In the meantime, find out everything we know about House of the Dragon Season 3, read our breakdown of every Targaryen king, and check out other TV shows streaming this month.