The sixth season of the highly popular HBO television show "Game of Thrones" is perhaps one of the most talked about shows in recent TV history. However, despite the television adaptation's success, the source material where it was originally based on seems to be moving at a painfully slow pace as the sixth installment in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel series is still nowhere to be found.

Now, reports have speculated that the novel may be delayed once again and that it might not be ready for a 2017 release date.

The epic fantasy series' last installment — "A Dance with Dragons" — was released more than five years ago in 2011. Saying that the highly anticipated new book "The Winds of Winter" is long overdue is, of course, an understatement. However, fans have been patiently waiting for either Martin or any of his publishers to make an announcement regarding the book's release, but that apparently hasn't happened yet.

Martin himself had previously confessed that he was still busy writing the novel and that he still has to go through a lot of material. The author himself even admitted that he was a "painfully slow" writer after having missed several deadlines.

The television series adaptation has now even overtaken the novel series itself, which has led the network to come up with their own plot.

The most recent rumor regarding the book's release had pegged it to be coming out on March 9, 2017. This was based on a listing that was found online, which allegedly leaked the book's release date. Martin's publisher later announced that the alleged release date was "incorrect," and that they will be announcing the actual release when they were ready and when Martin has actually finished writing the novel.

Meanwhile, fans can still look forward to the release of the seventh season of the series' television adaptation, "Game of Thrones," which will premiere in mid-2017 on HBO.