'Winds of Winter' release date: Publishers debunk March 2017 placeholder date

George R.R. Martin's "The Winds of Winter."Reuters

Fans of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series are no strangers to disappointment, especially when it comes to the release date of "The Winds of Winter," the sixth book in the saga.

The most recent culprit for dashing the hopes of fans was Amazon France, which posted on its website a March 2017 release date for the book. As with previous reports that came out about the release date, this was debunked by Random House, the publishers of the successful book series, IBTimes reported.

"As his publisher, we support George RR Martin as he works hard to finish The Winds of Winter. Any on-sale dates currently listed online for the novel are incorrect. Once we have a publication date for The Winds of Winter, the world will know," Random House US said in a statement.

Harper Collins, which has publishing rights to the series in the U.K., also denied the accuracy of the placeholder date posted by the online retail giant. "Nothing has been finalized regarding the publication or the date," said Harper Collins.

Fans who immediately went to visit Martin's blog were also met with disappointment as the latest posts involved entries about football and U.S. immigration. The initial target for "The Winds of Winter" was early 2016 before the release of the sixth season of HBO's Game of Thrones, which is based on Martin's book saga.

However, as Martin missed his deadline, the series has so far overtaken its source material- making this the first time that it has ever happened for any adapted literary work.

"The deadlines just stress me out. I am going back to my stance from last March, before all this. It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it," he said back in January.

While the actual release date remains up in the air, the author has not been remiss in posting teasers for the chapters in his upcoming book.