George R.R. Martin is determined to finish The Winds of Winter before Season 6

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, George R.R. Martin has gone on record as saying that finishing The Winds of Winter, the long-in-production sixth book in his longer-in-production A Song of Ice and Fire series, before Season 6 of Game of Thrones airs next year “has been important to me all along.”

“I wish it was out now,” the author said. “Maybe I’m being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish. But I canceled two convention appearances, I’m turning down a lot more interviews—anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done.”

Now, longtime Song of Ice and Fire devotees know that it’s perilous to take Martin at his word when it comes to deadlines. After all, this is the guy who was defending himself against accusations that he was taking too long to write A Dance with Dragons, a book that eventually came out in 2011, all the way back in 2009. On the other hand, Martin has cancelled con appearances recently, so it does seem like he’s taking the completion of the book seriously.

Still, entertain hope at your own risk.

Interestingly, Martin also reveals that he recently came up with a big twist that he had never previously considered involving an important character. The quote, reproduced in full below, is characteristically vague, but plenty intriguing.

“I’m still weighing whether to go that direction or not. It’s a great twist. It’s easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it’s just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen. And with the various three, four characters involved…it all makes sense. But it’s nothing I’ve ever thought of before. And it’s nothing they can do in the show, because the show has already—on this particular character—made a couple decisions that will preclude it, where in my case I have not made those decisions.”

Okay, so there’s a bit to unpack here. First of all, it’s good to hear that Martin isn’t willing to do a twist just for the sake of shocking people. Second, this indicates that, by the time that the books are done, they will indeed look very different from the show. That’s the direction in which things have been heading for a while, but the idea that the books could have a major twist involving an important, established character that’s impossible to incorporate into the show takes things to a new level.

And finally, WHAT’S THE TWIST WHAT IS IT I WANNA KNOW! We know it involves an important character and that, for whatever reason, it cannot be replicated on the show due to story decisions the producers have made. This could indicate that it involves a character who’s been cut on the show, perhaps Lady [expletive deleted]? Or a character who has or will die prematurely on the show? The possibilities are pretty wide open, and hopefully we won’t have to wait past 2016 to start getting answers.

• Published on 04/03/2015 at 12:13 PM CDT
• Last updated on 04/03/2015 at 12:20 PM CDT