Today, The Hollywood Reporter published a massive new interview with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, and my has been it a lot to process. From insights into the long-awaited novel The Winds of Winter, to new details about Game of Thrones' canceled Jon Snow spinoff, to talk of the upcoming show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and more, it's enough to keep fans of Westeros reeling for days. But perhaps the most incendiary bit of information in this new interview had to do with the first Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, and Martin's troubled relationship with its showrunner, Ryan Condal.
Back in 2024, Martin published a lengthy blog post detailing some of his issues with how House of the Dragon was deviating from his source material, the book Fire & Blood. It's become the stuff of internet legend, setting off a firestorm as HBO quickly flipped into damage control mode to back showrunner Ryan Condal, and ask Martin to take down his post.
Martin discussed all this with The Hollywood Reporter, detailing some of the problems with his "abysmal" relationship with Condal. It was eye-opening to see him be so candid about it after more than a year of staying mostly quiet on the topic.
But that's not all. While Martin only said a little bit about Condal, and by THR's account appeared "miserable" to be discussing it at all, the outlet's inside sources revealed some even more shocking details about the author's tumultuous relationship with House of the Dragon. And trust me when I say this is the sort of thing that will have fans shaken as the show speeds toward its third season later this year.
George R.R. Martin says House of the Dragon "is not my story any longer"
According to THR's inside sources, things between Martin and Condal came to a head during a Zoom call where Condal laid out his plan for House of the Dragon season 3 for a group of the show's producers and HBO executives. After Condal outlined the season, Martin spoke up, drilling down on all the things he took issue with about this new season, reportedly stating that, “This is not my story any longer.”
After that, HBO made the shocking decision to actually ask Martin to step back from House of the Dragon for its third season. The studio walked that call back a few months later and brought Martin back onto the team, but it's still a very bad sign at all that Martin was ousted from the series in the first place.
“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.”
As for Condal, he declined to comment for THR's far-ranging piece. He instead directed them to an earlier statement he'd made about his relationship with Martin to EW: “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.”
Condal's insistence that Martin is "unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way" has always grated on me, if I'm being honest. Martin's career in television spans decades, all the way back to the 1980s. He was involved in Game of Thrones, one of the biggest TV shows in history. I have a feeling he's well aware of the constraints of film production.
Beyond that, House of the Dragon's changes range from big, sweeping ones, to very small ones like the fact that Helaena Targaryen offers Blood and Cheese a necklace in exchange for the life of her children, rather than the more dramatic dialogue she has in the book. There's a feeling House of the Dragon is changing things wholesale whether it's an improvement or not, and the argument that it's because of "practical issues" just does not account for all the decisions being made. But I digress.
One thing The Hollywood Reporter article doesn't include is the date of this dramatic Zoom call, but if I had my guess, I would wager it took place before Martin's infamous blog post in September 2024. He mentioned some of the changes Condal had in mind for season 3 in that post, specifically about Helaena Targaryen, and that means he already knew the thrust of the season. I can't help but wonder if that frustrated blog post happened after HBO gave Martin the boot, as he tried to reclaim what power he could over the series.
Of course, that's only speculation. The one thing we know for certain is that by Martin's own words, the relationship with Condal remains sour to this day. It doesn't instill much confidence that we'll see anything resembling a faithful adaptation of Martin's work when House of the Dragon returns for its third season. But hey, I'd love for that fear to be proven wrong.
House of the Dragon season 3 is set to premiere in Summer 2026. In the meantime, we have A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to look forward to later this month, which should be a breath of fresh air compared to all this drama.