The Winds of Winter was originally intended, in the very early stages of the series, to be the final installment of A Song of Ice and Fire (then conceived as a trilogy).
In addition, he teased at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con that Jeyne Westerling, Robb Stark's widow, will appear in the prologue chapter, but did not reveal who will be the POV character.
He also stated that Bran Stark, Samwell Tarly and Cersei Lannister will appear in the novel, but did not elaborate if as viewpoint characters. Martin confirmed that Areo Hotah and Melisandre will return as viewpoints but did not state which novel their chapters will appear in. Martin confirmed that there are no new viewpoint characters intended for The Winds of Winter. In 2013 Martin read from a second chapter at Boskone. paperback edition of A Dance with Dragons.
Some of the characters in very dark places. Things get worse before they get better, so things are getting worse for a lot of people." Viewpoint characters Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. "I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. At Guadalajara International Book Fair 2016, Martin gave some clues about the dark nature of The Winds of Winter. Arianne Martell sample chapters that Martin released on his Web site showed her heading for Griffin's Roost to see the young man who is calling himself Aegon VI Targaryen. And then take it from there." A Victarion Greyjoy chapter will begin five minutes after the end of A Dance with Dragons, taking place on the eve of the Ironborn's arrival in Slaver's Bay. Martin intends to resolve these storylines "very early" in The Winds of Winter, saying "I'm going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle at Meereen - the battle of Slaver's Bay. The previous installment, A Dance with Dragons, covered less story than Martin intended, excluding at least one planned large battle sequence and leaving several character threads ending in cliffhangers.
The Winds of Winter will take readers farther north than any of the previous books, and the Others will appear in the book.