'Winds of Winter' release date news: Will book 6 come out before 'Game of Thrones' season 7?

"Game of Thrones" ("GoT") season 7 may still be a long way off, but fans of both the HBO series and the best-selling epic fantasy novels on which it is based are already worrying that season 7 could premiere before George R.R. Martin finishes the highly anticipated "The Winds of Winter."

As fans recall, the author has already missed two publication deadlines for the upcoming sixth installment in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. In January this year, he confirmed that he missed the second publication deadline set by his publishers, which led to "Game of Thrones" season 6 airing before the sixth book in the novel series was published. This meant that the sixth season of the HBO fantasy drama was the first season of the award-winning "Game of Thrones" that was not based on an existing "ASOIAF" novel.

Since this announcement, Martin has stuck by his new policy of no longer setting deadlines for himself nor announcing his progress on "The Winds of Winter." As he told fans in January, the novel will be done when it's done.

But now that 2017 is approaching, and with it a new season of "Game of Thrones," fans can't help but wonder if "The Winds of Winter" will finally make it before another season of "GoT" airs.

Though fans probably shouldn't expect a 2016 release date for the long-awaited novel, it's fortunately not too late for Martin to publish the book before "Game of Thrones" season 7. The HBO series will premiere mid-2017 and sources note that as long as Martin finishes "The Winds of Winter" by early spring, the novel should come out ahead of season 7.

This scheduling is based on the fact that Martin's publishers gave him a December 2015 deadline for "The Winds of Winter," supposedly to be released ahead of the mid-April debut of "Game of Thrones" season 6. This means that there is a four-month window before the author's submission of the finished novel and its publication.

Should "Game of Thrones" season 7 be scheduled for a June or July premiere, Martin will have until February or March next year to finish the novel.

Luckily, Martin may already be done writing and is perhaps now already in the process of proofreading. Rumor has it that the seventh novel, "A Dream of Spring," could be released alongside "The Winds of Winter."

While these last bits may be farfetched, it doesn't seem at all impossible for Martin to finish the sixth "ASOIAF" novel, which he has been working on for years, within the next five months.

Until then, stay tuned for updates on "The Winds of Winter."