The drama surrounding the hit series House of the Dragon has intensified as showrunner Ryan Condal responded to criticisms from George R.R. Martin, the author behind the Game of Thrones universe. Martin's critique of the show's second season, published in August 2024, sparked significant attention after he vowed to address "everything that's gone wrong with House of the Dragon." His detailed concerns, particularly about plot elements involving Aegon and Helaena's children, were later removed from his website, but not before they caught the eye of thousands of fans and HBO.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal expressed his disappointment over Martin's remarks. "It was disappointing," he stated, emphasizing his long-standing admiration for Martin and the A Song of Ice and Fire series. "I've been a fan for almost 25 years now, and working on the show has been truly one of the great privileges of, not only my career as a writer, but my life as a fan of science-fiction and fantasy. George himself is a monument, a literary icon in addition to a personal hero of mine, and was heavily influential on me coming up as a writer."
Condal acknowledged the challenges of adapting Fire & Blood, the source material for House of the Dragon, into a television series. He explained that the process often requires filling in gaps and inventing new elements. "It's this incomplete history and it requires a lot of joining of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way," he noted. He also highlighted his efforts to involve Martin in the adaptation process, saying, "I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time. But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way."
Condal further elaborated on the challenges he faced, balancing his roles as a showrunner and creative writer. "And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time. At the end of the day, I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that's my job. So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday."
He also stressed the lengthy decision-making process behind each creative choice, which can take "many months, if not years" to finalize. Condal's goal is to create a show that appeals not only to Game of Thrones readers but also to a "massive television audience."
Despite the strained relationship with Martin, HBO and the author continue to collaborate on several projects. While some projects have been shelved since the original Game of Thrones series, upcoming works include A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which Martin has praised as a "faithful adaptation," and potentially another Targaryen-centered spinoff.
Meanwhile, House of the Dragon is moving forward with production on its third season, which began today. This follows a successful second season, which received a 7/10 in our review.
