It is well known that George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, was at odds with Ryan Condal, the showrunner, regarding his vision for House of the Dragon season three.
Now, the noted writer is sharing details of his disagreement, which he described as “worse than rocky” and “abysmal.”
George’s initial view of Ryan, in his words, was, “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.”
But cracks within the creatives began to appear when Miguel Sapochnik, co-showrunner, exited, reportedly over creative control.
The author said he sided with Ryan after he asked for his support. But when work on season two started, the relationship between the duo started to deteriorate.
“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.'”
The tension between them reached a boiling point during a call on Zoom, where they clashed over House of the Dragon season three’s story direction.
“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,” George tells The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “This is not my story any longer.”
Following the matter reaching its zenith, the author called out the changes in House of the Dragon in season two, but they were deleted after HBO executives were involved.
George, meanwhile, is still involved with the making of House of the Dragon, whose season three will drop in the summer of 2026.
