The Writer’s Guild strike already has a benefit for George R.R. Martin fans, as he now has time to write the much-anticipated sixth Song of Fire and Ice novel. The Winds of Winter, which was originally scheduled for 2014, was delayed by the massive Game of Thrones project.

Thanks to the Writer’s Guild strike, all scripted shows, including he upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, have paused thier writers room, author George R.R. Martin revealed in a new blog post Monday. The popular and prolific author, best known for his ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire novels that were adapted into HBO hit shows Game of Thrones and its current prequel House of the Dragon, also made announcements about his other new TV shows, like AMC’s Dark Winds Season 2 (Martin is a producer).

HBO announced The Hedge Knight only a few weeks ago during a Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max investor presentation. It’s based on Martin’s “Dunk and Egg” novellas, which follow the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and a young Aegon V Targaryen (Egg) 90 years prior to the events of A Song of Ice and Fire. There are three books in this series, sections already have comic book adaptations.

“I am not in LA, so I cannot walk a picket line as I did in 1988, but I want to go on the record with my full and complete and unequivocal support of my Guild,” he wrote. “How long will the strike last? No idea. Maybe the AMPTP members will come to their senses tomorrow and offer some meaningful concessions, and the whole thing can be wrapped up next week. I would not bet the ranch on that, however. I have been through several of these since I first started writing for television and film in 1986. The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history. The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days. This one may go longer. The issues are more important, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now.”

Martin also wrote in his post that Peacock has “passed on ‘“’Wild Cards’”’, alas” a show based on his multi-author world of linked science-fiction and superhero novels. The Wild Cards adaptation was originally set at Hulu in 2018 before moving to Peacock in 2021, though it was not ordered to series. Martin said that after the writers strike, he will try to find a new home for the ambitious show.

Martin wrote that “House of the Dragon” Season 2 will continue filming, as the scripts were finished months ago and will not have any further writing done. “Across the ocean, the second season of ‘House of the Dragon’ started filming April 11 and will continue in London and Wales. The scripts for the eight S2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began. Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. There will be no further revisions.” He said: The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew… and of course the dragons.”

Martin also wrote. “The WGA is a union of film and television writers. It has nothing to do with novels, short stories, or any other form of prose fiction, nor comic books and graphic novels, nor stage plays, nor the editing of collections and anthologies. I have on-going projects in all those areas, and that work continues unabated. And ‘Winds’ continues to be priority number one.”

“Everyone has seen this storm coming a long way off… and accordingly, studios and streamers and networks have been stockpiling scripts for months. As of May 2, the pens are down and the computer screens have gone dark all across Hollywood, but production will continue so long as there are scripts to shoot.”

Maybe an alternative to TV makes sense while the Writers are on strike… as long as people watch the studios won’t negotiate much. Martin believes the last two volumes of the series will total over 3,000 manuscript pages and take readers father North. They will be The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. Or maybe check out the Wild Cards or other books for now.