George R R Martin is opening up on his difficult relationship with House of the Dragon showrunnr Ryan Condal, who deviated the show’s plot from the original novels, something fans have complained about for years. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, the author spoke about having an “abysmal” relationship with Condal because he did not take Martin’s input into the show, which resulted in the show not staying true to the novels.
Speaking to the outlet he said,
“I hired Ryan. I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all through the first season. I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought.”
He then went on to add how things slowly worsened in the second season as he added,
“Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me. I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn’t doing it. Other times, he would tell me, ‘Oh, OK, yeah, I’ll think about that.’ It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes.”
Although Condal has claimed that he made efforts to incorporate Martin’s inputs into the show’s premise, their rocky relationship says otherwise. Condal continues to lead the House of the Dragon franchise, with third season expected this year.
More details about House of the Dragon’s latest season
The war for the Iron Throne is officially entering its most brutal phase as season 3 of House of the Dragon is expected to premiere on HBO in mid-2026, most likely sometime between July and September. HBO has confirmed the season will consist of eight episodes, continuing the tighter structure established in season 2.
The season will be an adaptation of Fire & Blood and is expected to focus heavily on large scale conflict with potential premises of major battles across the Riverlands, shifting power in King’s Landing and a massive naval confrontation at the Gullet early in the season.
The cast this season includes Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, Olivia Cooke, Matthew Needham, Jefferson Hall, Harry Collett, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Kurt Egyiawan, Kieran Bew, Abubakar Salim, Clinton Liberty, Tom Bennett, Freddie Fox, and Gayle Rankin, with Ryan Condal as showrunner once again.
House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max.
Edited by Nibir Konwar