If I remember Guido van Rossum did mention the status of the GIL in one of the Lex Friedman episodes [1] he was on (it's been a while, so I may be misremembering). Surprised to see a big decision like this happen so quickly. Did Meta's announcement play a big role in this [2]?
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DVyjdw4t9I
[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36643670