George R.R. Martin Speaks Out On House Of The Dragon Disagreements

George R.R. Martin is finally speaking out about his major disagreements with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. Based on Martin’s book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon was the first Westeros spinoff to air after Game of Thrones ended in 2019.

Behind-the-scenes turmoil spilled out into the public when the author wrote a shocking blog post calling out the producers for various changes to his original storyline.

It’s been over a year since Martin published that blog post, and the acclaimed writer now admits to THR that his relationship with Condal is not just “worse than rocky, it’s abysmal.”

After hiring Condal to oversee House of the Dragon, Martin was under the assumption that the two of them would be partners on the endeavor. After all, they are both co-creators and executive producers.

“It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal.”

“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.”

Everything was running smoothly during the first season, with Martin reading early script drafts and submitting notes. Condal took that feedback and made changes. “It was working really well—I thought,” Martin said.

Their working relationship soured after season 1 co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik left following a dispute with Condal. Once Condal was named the sole showrunner, he “basically stopped listening to me,” according to Martin, who noticed that whenever he would provide his notes on the scripts, nothing would be changed.

Sometimes, Condal explained his reasons for rebuffing Martin; at other times, he would claim he was taking the notes under consideration then not doing anything with them. Martin started to get really annoyed the longer this progressed, which resulted in HBO executives telling him to submit his notes directly to the network, “and they would give Ryan our combined notes.”

“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, okay, 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.”

In Martin’s infamous House of the Dragon blog post, which sent shockwaves all over the Internet a mere month after the season 2 finale aired, the author lashed out at producers for making certain storyline changes that would have huge ramifications for the plot going forward.

While Martin did end up deleting the post, he now admits he almost reversed course, telling THR, “I would’ve put it back up, but then I would’ve looked like an idiot.”

“I would’ve put it back up, but then I would’ve looked like an idiot. And 80% of it was praise, but that’s not what people focused on.”

As the partnership continued to collapse, there came a point where Martin was reportedly forced out of having direct involvement with the show, but that has since changed, a move that the author acknowledges he isn’t able to talk about.

“I can’t talk about it.”

An anonymous individual at HBO told THR that the relationship between Condal and Martin “needed a reset.” Everyone involved “took a step back for a while” until they could find a “new way forward.”

“George and Ryan had a disagreement on the direction of season 3. 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.”

It’s unclear what that new way forward is or how involved Martin is with the show now, considering he is still saying his relationship with Condal is “abysmal.”

Also, last year, Condal claimed that Martin refused to budge in his assessment over how to adapt Fire & Blood. As of March 2025, they had still not resolved their issues.

Filming for House of the Dragon season 3 took place throughout much of 2025. HBO has revealed that the spinoff will return to the air in summer 2026, though a specific premiere date has not been announced yet.

Despite Martin’s disagreements with Condal and the direction of House of the Dragon, he has had nothing but praise for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the second Game of Thrones spinoff, which he has called a faithful adaptation. The six-episode series premieres on January 18.

A fourth season of House of the Dragon has been ordered by HBO, but only time will tell if Martin and Condal can remedy the situation before the series comes to an end.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Sunday, January 18 at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.