George R. R. Martin just announced a new project, and with the news, I've now just fully accepted that he's never getting around to writing The Winds of Winter. We all know the tortured history of The Winds of Winter, the ostensible sixth book in the series that has been languishing in the literary equivalent of development hell for so long that it's taken on the proportions of a mythical creature, something that we've been told exists – maybe – but have yet to receive solid proof of its existence. Like Sasquatch or aliens, The Winds of Winter probably exists, but, at this point, it being a collective hallucination on our part is equally likely.

With news that just broke about yet another project involving George R. R. Martin, the hope that The Winds of Winter will ever see the light of day is vanishing ever more quickly into the distance. Lion Forge Entertainment announced that it's teaming up with Martin, who will serve as producer on a planned adult animated feature adaptation of Howard Waldrop’s novella A Dozen Tough Jobs. Set in 1920s sharecropping Mississippi, A Dozen Tough Jobs is a retelling of the Greek myth of the twelve labors of Hercules.

Bubba Ho-Tep author Joe R. Lansdale is penning the script, and Blue Spirit, the award-winning French animation studio behind the exquisite Blue Eye Samurai series, will handle the animation. It's being described as "a Gothic, magical-realist retelling of Hercules' hero's journey." While all of that sounds incredible, what it does not sound like is George R. R. Martin sitting down to finish The Winds of Winter. I honestly don't know why any of us still keep hoping that every George R. R. Martin announcement is that he's finally written the long-awaited book. By now, we're just Charlie Brown falling for Lucy holding the football every time.

Fans Have Been Waiting For George R. R. Martin To Finish The Winds Of Winter For 15 Years

It's Been 13 Years Since The Last Book In The Song Of Ice And Fire Series Was Released

As George R. R. Martin started writing the first few chapters of The Winds of Winter all the way back in 2010, it's now been 15 years that fans have been waiting for him to release it – or even announce he's finished a first draft. It's been so long that it's now become one of pop culture's recurring "never gonna happen" jokes – the projects that have been in development hell for so long now that fans half-believe they'll never happen. The Winds of Winter is officially one of those projects, but, unlike a few others that finally saw the light of day, such as The Crow reboot, or are bound to happen someday, like a Blade movie in the MCU, the mythical sequel novel may actually never happen.

It's gotten so bad that George R. R. Martin itted that he may never finish The Winds of Winter last December. It's been 14 years since the last book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, came out in 2011, and there has not been a lot of forward momentum on the next installment. While he didn't say he was absolutely done trying to crack the long-gestating Game of Thrones book, he did finally confess that the jokes people make about him never finishing it might actually be right.:

Unfortunately, I am 13 years late. Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ I don’t know, it happens a day at a time.

But that’s still a priority. A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!

Martin Has Turned His Focus To Movies & TV

Game Of Thrones Adaptations & Other Projects Have Taken All His Time

I'm starting to agree with Martin that the jokes he'll never finish The Winds of Winter might be right, not just because he seems to have no idea how to crack the story, but also because of all the Hollywod projects he has recently been involved in and on his plate in the near future. He is doing a lot of producing work these days, from Dark Winds, which even made a joke about his Winds of Winter delay in season 3, to this new Hercules-inspired movie. It just doesn't seem like Martin has a ion to continue the Song of Ice and Fire series and finish the story. At the least, his greater ion now seems to be the storytelling medium of television and movies.

It just doesn't seem like Martin has a ion to continue the Song of Ice and Fire series and finish the story.

Right now on the writing front, he has four different Game of Thrones spinoffs in the works and more House of the Dragon. He's also producing those series, along with, of course, A Dozen Tough Jobs, two shorts, Friends Forever and Mary Margaret Road Grader, and continuing his work as a producer alongside Robert Redford on Dark Winds, which got renewed for season 4 before season 3 even premiered.

Hollywood is a demanding mistress at the best of times, and with so many balls in the air, it's hard to see how he would possibly have time to work on The Winds of Winter. That's even if he wanted to, which seems unlikely considering Martin recently called Winds of Winter "the curse of [his] life." It's time for us to face facts: the next book is never coming.

It's Time To Accept That Martin Might Never Finish The Winds Of Winter - And That's Okay

Maybe He's Not The Right Pilot To Land The Plane Now

If The Winds of Winter never happens, I think I'm okay with it. Of course, I'd love for Martin to finish A Song of Ice and Fire on his own , especially to wash away the taste of the horrendous Game of Thrones season 8 being the only ending we have right now. But as a writer myself, I understand and empathize with how an author might lose his ion for a story, especially a story he's been telling for decades. Few of us desire to be defined by one aspect of ourselves, one narrow story in our own lives, and it would be no different if George R. R. Martin didn't want to be shackled to the Game of Thrones universe forever. I can't fault him for that.

Plus, The Winds of Winter is a story clearly fighting Martin. If the story had come easily - or at all - he'd have written it by now. I wouldn't want him to finish the series simply because he feels obligated to, rather than because he has a great story he's ionate about writing. We've already seen what happens when writers rush stories set in this world, and the results aren't pretty. It seems blasphemous to say, but maybe Martin isn't the right pilot to land this plane anymore. If it doesn't get finished in his lifetime, then it's possible his estate could grant someone the rights to pick up where he left off and write the ending he couldn't. Were that to ever happen, I just hope it's worth the wait. Readers, and the world George R. R. Martin created, deserve it.