It is known among Game of Thrones fans that George R. R. Martin (Dying of the Light, Dead Man’s Hand) has had a hard time finishing the book series the show was based on. According to Comicbook, Martin has finally revealed how much he still has left to write to finish The Winds of Winter. In an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s Tooning Out the News, the author revealed that he has written around “1,100 to 1,200” pages and that he still has “another 400, 500 pages” until he finishes the novel. During his appearance, he also revealed he has had “writer’s constipation” a reason why it has taken him so long to finish the book. 

Game of Thrones’ final season premiered three years ago and ended Martin’s book series A Song of Fire and Ice. The showrunners of the show D.B. Weiss (Metal Lords, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and David Benioff (Gemini Man, Brothers) created the final two seasons with details provided by Martin since the author still hadn’t finished the book the seasons were supposed to be based on. The author has been working on The Winds of Winter for several years and has been telling fans that it will be done soon. 

In other news, according to Comicbook, the author has been commenting on his blog about the development of the Jon Snow spin-off. In the post, he talked about the collaboration with Kit Harrington (Eternals, Pompeii), who played Snow in Game of Thrones, and with two other writers/showrunners whose identities haven’t been revealed yet. Martin mentioned that he couldn’t reveal the identities of the writers but that he thought that the team in charge of the Jon Snow spin-off are terrific. The author also revealed that it was Harrington himself who proposed the spin-off and that he also was the one who chose the writers/showrunners that will be working on the show. 

In the final season of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow learns of his true heritage as Aegon Targaryen, the true heir to the Iron Throne. This leads to his fallout with Daenerys, his lover and aunt, which ends with her death at his hands in an attempt to keep her from power. Jon is then forced into exile with the Night’s Watch, a group he already belonged to for years and that later betrayed him. Instead of staying with the Watch, he heads North of the Wall with the Wildlings and his direwolf Ghost. The spin-off would focus on what happens to Jon after going North of the Wall. 

The Jon Snow spin-off is still in pre-production, but all seasons of Game of Thrones and season one of House of the Dragon are available to stream on HBO Max.