George R.R. Martin Spills The Beans On His Winds Of Winter Progress

When it comes to big series on HBO, "Game of Thrones" is still sitting proudly on the Iron Throne. Though the series has been off the air for a few years already, only "Euphoria" has come close to usurping its crown (via Variety). Still, with the series successor, "House of the Dragon," being praised by fans and critics alike (via Rotten Tomatoes), maybe the reign of the "Game of Thrones" will be taken by a tale from its own realm.

What connects these two stories is author George R.R. Martin, who penned the inspiration behind both works as well as many other stories that take place in the fictional realm of Westeros. Unfortunately for fans who were a bit miffed with how the show wrapped things up, though, Martin has made slow progress on book six of the proposed seven volumes it will take to wrap up his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. However, a silly new interview may finally answer the question of how far along Martin is on the penultimate volume of his saga.

George R.R. Martin stopped by for a round of "Tooning Out the News," where he was joined by fellow author James Patterson. The joke was on Martin in the segment as Dr. Ike Bloom (Ikechukwu Ufomadu) dunked on the author considerably while asking Patterson to give him some advice on how to finish a book.

However, perhaps the juiciest bit to slip out of the conversation was that Martin has already penned over 1,000 pages of "The Winds of Winter." When Patterson asked Martin how many pages he had stacked up for his latest manuscript, Martin answered: "1,100, 1,200, something like that."

While there has been a staggering wait of over a decade for the latest book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, fans might finally take a tiny bit of comfort in knowing that Martin does seem likely to have a nearly complete manuscript at that count. Of course, adding in the time it will take to edit so many pages of copy, "The Winds of Winter" could definitely still be a ways off.

Since Martin is already in his 70s, this prompts the concern for some that the author, like fellow fantasy writer Robert Jordan, might not live long enough to finish the series. While Martin himself dismisses this discourse completely (via Independent), one thing's for sure: the clock is definitely ticking on the final books of the author's dark fantasy saga.