Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin recently appeared on a panel at Seattle WorldCon 2025 entitled The Shifting Landscape of Epic Fantasy, alongside Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb, Rebecca Roanhorse and Ryan Cahill. However, during the question-and-answer portion at the end of the session, one member of the audience got up in front of the all-star panel to complain that George R.R. Martin was taking far too long to write the penultimate book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, and given that he likely doesn’t have that long left to live, shouldn’t he let someone else write it?
The outstandingly rude question was met with an astonished murmur in the hall, while the guests on stage looked incredibly uncomfortable and attempted to move the topic on. However, the audience member seemed not to be able to pick up on the mood they’d created, and just continued digging their hole with a series of staccato additional words. You can see the squirm-inducing moment here (thanks ScreenRant):
Which somehow means someone choosing to film a two-hour panel in portrait wasn’t close to the most offensive thing that happened.
The bizarre, rambling question, which begins with the audience member talking somewhat incoherently about Martin Scorsese directing her in a movie, then takes a dramatic left-turn as she declares, “George, you’re not going to be around for much longer.”
Martin, who is 76 and clearly still reasonably healthy, didn’t appear to react to the premonition of his death (although the person filming infuriatingly avoided filming him at any point). “This is a tough question,” the person at the mic continues while the audience begins audibly booing and vocally disagreeing, attempting to rescue herself by adding, “this is more directed at Brandon…” The reason being that Brandon Sanderson, a spritely 49, took over writing Robert Jordan’s unfinished The Wheel of Time epic fantasy series after the author died, aged only 58. The questioner wondered if the same could be arranged for A Song of Ice and Fire. “How would you feel about someone else taking over and finishing the books?” she said, seemingly now addressing Martin again, despite various members of the panel loudly saying, “No, no,” and getting up from their seats.
“Not me,” you can hear Sanderson say, while Martin gets up from his seat. Even then, the person at the mic keeps going, responding to inaudible comments from the panel, in a room that surely could no longer contain any air at all.
Obviously a lot of GoT fans are frustrated by The Winds of Winter‘s prolonged absence, given the book was due out 14 years ago. Given the series is two books away from being finished, and given Martin’s current output, it’s reasonable to wonder if any human would live long enough to get it finished at the current rate. Assuming another 14 years, Martin would be 90. However, there are obviously more human and decent ways to approach the subject.
Martin said of the delay last year, “How could I be 13 years late? I don’t know, it happens a day at a time.” He then added, “A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!”
And who knows! Maybe he’ll surprise everyone and release his version of the story’s conclusion all of a sudden (the Game of Thrones TV series had to write its own ending, given it unexpectedly ran out of source material). In the meantime, maybe don’t yell at the old dude on stage that you reckon he’ll die soon.
