Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin is opening up about what he calls an “abysmal” working relationship with the cocreator of House of the Dragon, Ryan Condal. He revealed in a new interview that what started as a strong collaboration on Season 1’s plot and scripts transformed into a difficult distance with HBO as the middleman amid Season 2 production.
House of the Dragon is a Game of Thrones prequel spinoff based on Martin’s book, Fire & Blood. It’s a hefty text with dense Targaryen history inside. Condal has been adapting it for the small screen. Two seasons have come out so far, with two more to come (Season 4 will reportedly be its last, per Condal, though HBO has yet to confirm this).
House of the Dragon Season 1 was widely praised as a strong adaptation of the source material, but Season 2 had mixed reviews. Its ending, in particular, was a letdown to some viewers, who expressed disappointment at what they described as an anticlimactic ending that only set up an important battle from the book. With several years of wait time between each season, fans wanted more action to tide them over.
Martin expressed his own disappointment in his working relationship with Condal in a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter. (The third Game of Thrones show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, premieres this Sunday, January 18, on HBO. Martin is a co-creator and executive producer.)
“It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal,” Martin admitted when asked about his dynamic with the showrunner. He didn’t share specifics, but still revealed how their relationship has evolved since Season 1.
“I hired Ryan,” Martin said. “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.”
Ollie Upton/HBO
Condal reportedly had a creative dispute with House of the Dragon former coshowrunner Miguel Sapochnik. Martin supported Condal in this disagreement, and Sapochnik left the series after Season 1.
“Then we got into Season 2, and he basically stopped listening to me,” Martin revealed. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Martin has shared details about his troubled relationship with Condal. A story he shared on his blog in 2024, which he noted to THR was “80 percent” praise, criticized Condal’s changes to the source material.
“I would’ve put it back up, but then I would’ve looked like an idiot,” Martin told THR of the post that caused an uproar online and reportedly behind the scenes at HBO. This blog debacle reportedly culminated in a Zoom call with Martin, Condal, and the network during which Condal shared his vision for House of the Dragon Season 3. Martin allegedly said on that call, “This is not my story any longer.” Martin was reportedly asked to step back from the series after that call, but he was later brought back in.
“I can’t talk about it,” Martin said of that chain of events.
“George and Ryan had a disagreement on the direction of season three,” an HBO insider told THR. “At that point, it was clear that the process and communication with them was broken and needed a reset. So there was naturally a period where everyone took a step back for a while until we could figure out a new way forward.”
Condal didn’t comment on this THR profile, but he told Entertainment Weekly in 2025, “I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. … But at some point, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way … I just have to keep marching forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that’s my job … I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday.”
Martin also commented on the impending completion of the Game of Thrones book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, in this interview, saying he intends to complete it and will leave it unfinished if he dies before it’s done. House of the Dragon Season 3 comes out in 2026, with Season 4 expected in 2028.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Series Premiere, Sunday, January 18, 10/9c, HBO
House of the Dragon, Season 3 Premiere, Summer 2026, HBO
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