Of Course That ‘Leaked’ 2026 ‘Winds of Winter’ Launch Date Is Faux

You’ll be able to file this one beneath each web hoax and “no duh.” A tweet claiming to have insider info relating to the discharge date of George R.R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter has turned out to be pure fantasy—similar to Martin’s Westeros-based story of zombies and dragons, although we positive do hope the book arrives one of these days.

Entertainment Weekly reached out to Bantam Books because the viral tweet gained momentum and acquired this very direct response: “The net chatter you might be seeing relating to a supposed leak is fake.”

You’ll be able to perceive why somebody would need to make up a pretend story about The Winds of Winter: it’s develop into one of the most anticipated book releases ever, a distinction that solely grows because the months and years go with out its arrival. Martin’s earlier launch in his collection, A Dance With Dragons, hit cabinets all the way in which again in 2011—the identical yr Recreation of Thrones debuted on HBO and introduced the creator’s creation to an exponentially bigger viewers.

The present ran for eight seasons and famously overtook the occasions chronicled in Martin’s books, and followers have lengthy hoped The Winds of Winter may assist soothe the frustration over a few of Recreation of Thrones‘ later-season story selections. Ready for Martin’s model, nonetheless, has develop into one thing of a spectator sport, because the creator has saved busy with a stream of different initiatives whereas issuing occasional non-updates about Winter‘s progress.

The tweet, posted by one “Ned Stark,” screenshots a message board submit from an individual claiming to be “a manufacturing assistant at Bantam Spectra.” It asserts that Martin turned within the full Winds of Winter manuscript this previous January at round 1,600 pages, with an official announcement within the works and an eye fixed towards a vacation 2026 launch.

Nevertheless it’s not true. Sorry when you fell for it. All of us need to consider! Thankfully, at the very least, our subsequent hit of real Westeros content material is coming to HBO this June with Home of the Dragon season three; we even have season two of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to stay up for subsequent yr. As for The Winds of Winter … all we are able to say for sure is that we all know even lower than Jon Snow at this level.

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