‘Game of Thrones’ Author George R.R. Martin Says New Book Will Be “Very Complex”

Game of Thrones‘ George R.R. Martin — still writing his sixth book (out of seven) despite the HBO show surpassing his previously published plots — told THR that he skipped final-season set visits.

“Going to set is a lot of fun but there’s nothing for me to do there, so I thought I better stay home and not go to Croatia; or Spain; or Belfast, [Northern] Ireland,” he explained. “I still have two books to write.”

So how’s it going? “I’m working on [The Winds of Winter], and I wish I’d been done four years ago, but I’m slow and the book is very complex, although there are a lot of great distractions out there” — including HBO’s Emmy afterparty, which feted Game of Thrones‘ drama series win. Martin, 70, whose Fire and Blood prequel drops Nov. 20, was spotted partying well past midnight.

… Also there was Ronan Farrow, hot off the sexual misconduct story that caused Leslie Moonves’ exit from CBS. Farrow was not only the subject of an Emmy show joke (“Netflix has the most nominations tonight, and if you’re a network executive, that’s the scariest thing you could possibly hear except maybe, ‘Sir, Ronan Farrow is on line one.’ You don’t want that call.”) but also of party chat. Outside the restroom at the HBO soiree, a woman was overheard gushing about the journalist: “Shouldn’t he be reporting somewhere?”

A version of this story also appears in the Sept. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.