Game of Thrones Season 6 has come and gone, long-since making moot any questions of George R.R. Martin speeding out The Winds of Winter to avoid spoilers, but there may at last be hope in sight. Another reported leak places Winds of Winter with an early 2017 release, at least beating Season 7 to the punch.

Entertainment Weekly advises taking the latest with a significant grain of salt, but a still-active French Amazon listing places The Winds of Winter in stores on March 9, 2017. In the interest of due diligence, at least, Martin’s UK publisher HarperCollins responds “nothing has been finalized regarding the publication or the date,” while Amazon has also jumped the gun with previous Song of Ice and Fire release dates.

Presumably, Martin himself will confirm one way or the other on his ever-trusty LiveJournal.

It remains an open question what, if any of Winds of Winter was spoiled by Game of Thrones Season 6, given producers have claimed only three major twists to have been gifted by the revered author. Martin has steadily released excerpts from the new book as well, but had no update on a release by the franchise’s recent 20th anniversary.

We’ll see what shakes out, but could Game of Thrones fans finally have the latest release by March 2017?

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