The Long Road to Stormlight Book 6

Journey before destination. We must reiterate these words of Radiance to every fan and reader of The Stormlight Archive, because there will be a need to remember these words in the coming years. You may ask why? It is because , though Sanderson is an almighty machine, pumping out volumes, the tap is slowing down a bit. The next book in the Stormlight Archive, the yet unnamed Stormlight Book 6 may take the better part of the decade before it gets published.

From Sanderson’s blog, there have been regular yearly updates on what series he has been focusing on and writing. There are many : Skyward, Mistborn and teasers about Elantris, Warbreaker and so on. Sanderson adroitly manages to juggle these series, delighting us fans of his series with devourable volumes published in a regular manner. The delight is heightened by the fact that his contemporaries in fantasy fiction are less regular in publishing sequels, in fact there has been a decade gap now between books of series such as A song of Ice and Fire and The King Killer Chronicles. It has almost trained us to expect consistency as a natural law of fantasy publishing.

Sanderson usually has a rough timeline that he adheres to, which is a practice rarely seen in fantasy fiction publishing. But he usually does hold some projects and focuses on his other properties which can be novellas or content from his crowdfunded campaigns. And he is readily upfront in specifying delays , alleviating much of mine and I’m sure other fans’ anxieties. The yearly State of The Sanderson posts are the medium through which he communicates updates about his series, much like a corporate annual statement. The analogy makes sense as his fans are stakeholders , having actual stakes in knowing when their favorite series might be arriving.

The 2024 State of The Sanderson discussed the future of Stormlight Archive or Stormlight Book 6, wherein Sanderson addressed that he would be now focusing on the complete Mistborn Era Three trilogy and Elantris 2 and 3, before coming back to Stormlight Trilogy. Writing three interconnected Mistborn novels and two direct Elantris sequels is a multi-year undertaking. Conservative estimates(by me) put the Stormlight Archive Book 6 at 2035, almost a decade away.

But with 2025 State of the Sanderson did add a new wrinkle or delight, depending on how we see it. Sanderson was shopping his works for a film or television series adaptation around Hollywood and one streamer has finally bit. Apple TV announced that Mistborn was picked up for their streaming service in January 2026. Sanderson will be involved heavily in the adaptation of the series and this will push back later releases so Stormlight Archive Book 6 will be affected. Add another 2 years to the estimate.Apple usually does not do things halfway, and Sanderson’s creative involvement will ensure that, even if it doesn’t reach the level of Game of Thrones, it won’t be discarded halfway like Amazon Prime’s adaptation of The Wheel of Time.

The Stormlight Archive Book 5 was humongous and lore heavy. Fans can have multiple rereadings so that the Roshar’s magic and the details of the two Shards of Adonalsium who dominate the Rosharan world are more clear. While they wait for the Stormlight Archive Book 6, the details of the Stormlight and Voidlight and other nuggets of the Sanderson’s particular brand of magic systems are already being discussed in multiple forums. So the wait is not unbearable.

But worry not, Sanderson has been flexible and there have been situations wherein he has moved some projects up or more bombastically announced he had been secretly writing books. We, fans , do love surprises. So the Stormlight Archive Book 6 release date is not set in stone. Sanderson may well hold the Elantris series back. Or he may not. What is more certain is that we will have Cosmere content, and that too in regular doses. The medium may be books or series, and we are not complaining (much!). We are here for it. The road to Stormlight Book 6 may be longer than we expected. And the Cosmere is a wide place, with many corners from which a familiar character might unexpectedly step into view. We are seasoned travelers now. And whether we admit it or not, we are enjoying the journey. Hoid would definitely want us to do so.