'The Winds of Winter' release date news: George R.R. Martin stays mum on the long-awaited book

George R.R. Martin still has not announced the release date for "The Winds of Winter."Reuters/Denis Balibouse

"The Winds of Winter" is the long-awaited sixth book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, the source material for HBO's "Game of Thrones." Although the book has been in the works for years, Martin still has not announced a release date. However, he has told fans that he plans on focusing on many projects, which may include finishing the upcoming book.

The last published book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series is titled "A Dance With Dragons," which was first published back in 2011. While "Game of Thrones" is based on the book series, the show's storyline has gone past the events in the published books, as "The Winds of Winter" has not come out yet. "Game of Thrones" is already set to end next year, but it looks like Martin is still not ready to release the sixth book.

In a March 5 post on his blog, "Not a Blog," Martin wrote that he was going to step away from blogging for a while to focus on work, and he also announced that he has "lots of exciting things going on."

"The Winds of Winter" is not the only project that Martin is working on. He has also published several companion pieces to the series since "A Dance With Dragons" came out, and he has also written scripts for "Game of Thrones." He is also adapting the Nnedi Okorafor novel "Who Fears Death" for HBO. Aside from that, the author is coming out with a two-part book series called "Fire and Blood," which details the history of the Targaryen family.

There are plans for five spin-off shows for "Game of Thrones," which Martin is also working on.

What, however, about "The Winds of Winter?" Martin claimed that he has finished "hundreds" of pages and "dozens" of chapters. Still, he has said, "It will be done when it's done."

Martin is notoriously meticulous about his work and is known to keep working on his books until he feels ready to publish them. However, the gap between "The Winds of Winter" and the book preceding it is now the longest gap between books in the entire series so far. There is also a planned seventh book, called "A Dream of Spring," though there is currently not much information about it.