"House of Dragon Showrunner Responds to George R.R. Martin's Critique"

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has expressed disappointment over Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin's criticisms of the series' second season. Martin's critique, published last year, promised a deep dive into "everything that's gone wrong with House of the Dragon" in August 2024. He specifically targeted plot elements involving Aegon and Helaena’s children, raising concerns about the future direction of the show. Although Martin's post was later removed from his website without explanation, it had already garnered attention from thousands of fans and HBO.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal shared his thoughts on Martin's feedback, highlighting the personal impact of their strained relationship. "It was disappointing," Condal stated. "I've been a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire 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 for television, noting that the source material is an "incomplete history" requiring significant creative interpretation. "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 explained. He emphasized his efforts to involve Martin in the adaptation process but noted a shift in Martin's engagement as the project progressed. "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 also discussed the dual role he must play as both a creative writer and a practical producer. "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 emphasized that every creative decision takes "many months, if not years" to finalize, and all decisions pass through him before reaching the screen. 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 tensions, HBO and Martin continue to have multiple projects in development, though a few projects have been shelved since the success of Game of Thrones. Upcoming collaborations include A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which Martin has described as a "faithful adaptation," and potentially another Targaryen-centered spinoff.

Meanwhile, House of the Dragon has already started production on Season 3, following the successful second season, which received a 7/10 in our review.