Fans always knew that the final season was coming.
Just like winter, however, it wasn’t sure when it would exactly arrive.
They have been waiting even longer for author George RR Martin to release the sixth book in the series.
Now that HBO has revealed when Season 8 will hit the screen, will the penultimate novel manage to hit bookshlves first?
After months of speculation HBO finally confirmed that fans will have to wait quite a while until they see the final season of the smash hit show.
Stars like Sophie Turner had already warned fans that the usual 12 month wait would be much longer this time. Now HBO has announced that Season 8 will not be released until 2019.
What about the long overdue Winds of Winter?
George RR Martin gave some huge clues that it WILL be released later this year and many believe he means this Spring.
The author just teased fans with a New Year tweet which showed an image of a dragon, but he recently spoke out about how the writing process is going on Winds of Winter and the spin-off book, Fire And Blood.
Martin said: “Whether Winds (of Winter) or the first volume of Fire and Blood will be the first to hit the bookstores is hard to say at this juncture, but I do think you will have a Westeros book from me in 2018… and who knows, maybe two. A boy can dream.”
While fans are always excited at the news of other books set in Westeros, they will not be pleased if any spin-offs come out before Book Six of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Martin said: “No publication date has been set yet, but it’s likely that we will get the first volume of FIRE AND BLOOD out in late 2018 or early 2019.”
If the first Fire and Blood release definitely won’t be out until the end of next year at the earliest and Martin hopes to have two Westeros books out next year this must mean the Winds of Winter will come out before that.
It is highly unlikely two major Westeros books would be released close together so an Autumn/Winter release for Fire And Blood raises hopes for a Spring/Summer release date for Winds of Winter.