George R. R. Martin called his relationship with "House of the Dragon" showrunner Ryan Condal "terrible." In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the author of "A Song of Ice and Fire" detailed how a collaboration that began with complete trust eventually turned into a protracted conflict, which HBO management eventually joined.
According to Martin, everything was perfect at the start. He personally chose Condal to adapt "Fire & Blood" and actively participated in the work on the first season.
"I thought we were partners. And in the first season, it was: I read drafts, gave comments, he rewrote a lot. It worked. I was happy."
Problems began during the preparation of the second season. Martin claims that the showrunner stopped taking his comments into account.
"I sent edits – and nothing happened. Sometimes he explained why he disagreed. Sometimes he said, "Okay, I'll think about it." But there were no changes. It was getting worse and worse. In the end, HBO asked me to send comments directly to them, and they forwarded them to Ryan."
The culmination was a call in which the script plan for the third season was discussed. When Condal presented his vision, Martin, as THR specifies, stated that "this is not his story."
After that, the writer withdrew from participation in the project, then returned, but the previous working contact between the author and the showrunner could not be restored.
Condal himself declined to comment directly on the interview, but earlier in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly he admitted that Martin's remote post, where he first publicly mentioned the disagreements, was a "disappointment" for him.
"I really tried to involve George in the adaptation process. But at some point, he stopped taking into account the real production constraints. I have to move on for the sake of the actors, the crew, and HBO. I hope we can find common ground again someday."
Against this background, the third season of "House of the Dragon," scheduled for the summer of 2026, is alarming. Fans warily received the news about the creator of the universe's dissatisfaction and fear script "improvisation" at the level of the finale of the eighth season of "Game of Thrones." At the same time, the series has already been renewed for a fourth season – it will be released in 2028 and is expected to be the final one.