Here's Why George R.R. Martin Didn't Write the Finale for 'The Wheel of Time'

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Makuochi Echebiri is a News Writer for Collider. He has been interested in creative writing from as far back as high school, and he would consume pretty much anything that’s film or TV. However, his truest love lies in the presence of historical epics and thrillers.

Lured by the brilliance of Middle Earth from an early age both in print and on screen, his palate has since expanded to other realms including Westeros, Kattegat among others. He also possesses a great appetite for the stories that emanate from the vastness of space. Even though he is no Avenger.

Obsessed with storytelling and having works of his own that have yet to make it to print, he is content to use that ability to communicate to as many as are reachable. In his spare time, he looks out for avenues where he can aid people aside from his plans to reign over this earthly realm. Yes…you heard that first here.

Advent readers of fantasy novels will be no strangers to the following authors and their works — George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and Robert Jordan. While you might not have read any of Martin's books, chances are you have come across adaptations of his work, with HBO's Game of Thrones the most famous one. Jordan's lengthy novel series, The Wheel of Time, has been subject to an adaptation of its own. However, after a three-season run, the series ended abruptly to the dismay of many fans. A large swathe of the fanbase hopes that Prime Video will reconsider the decision or that a different streamer will pick up the series. So far, that hope has remained largely fleeting. The Wheel of Time has been in a similar situation previously, with Jordan passing away without finishing the final three books in the novel series. It was a task that would ultimately fall to Sanderson.

Sanderson would go on to finish The Wheel of Time series, a daunting task he accomplished expertly with the penning of The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. However, a school of thought has long persisted that Martin, not Sanderson, was the favored choice to complete The Wheel of Time series. The Mistborn author, who had a friendship with the late writer, shot down that notion while responding to a post on Reddit. Sanderson's response suggests that Martin was never actually in consideration. The author's post reads:

"The big reason nobody seriously considered him is the obvious one—he had his own series to finish, and simply could never have spared the time. He wasn’t as behind in 2007 as he has been lately, but George has never been a particularly fast writer, and could never have been spared for this."

'The Winds of Winter' Continues To Be an Elusive Fantasy

Under close inspection, Sanderson's words make sense, especially when one looks closely at how difficult it has been for Martin to finish The Winds of Winter. The novel, which is the sixth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, has been in the works since 2011. The lack of updates from Martin has strained the author's relationship with his extensive fanbase. There are some within that fanbase who wouldn't mind Sanderson taking over the reins of seeing The Winds of Winter to bookshelves across the globe.

While Martin has struggled with the completion of The Winds of Winter, one can only hope that the author gets around to finishing the series someday. In the meantime, his novel, Fire & Blood, has inspired the Game of Thrones prequel show, House of the Dragon, which is headed for a third season, even as showrunner Ryan Condal confirms Season 4 will be the last. The stories from Westeros do not end there, as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, yet another HBO offering inspired by his writings, will arrive on screens very soon.