The internet might be living for the drama unfolding in the headlines between Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, but HBO Chief Casey Bloys is not at all amused by watching the drama unfold in the public eye.
Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Martin for a lengthy discussion about the Game of Thrones franchise as a whole. The conversation was full of headline-making comments including biting remarks about House of the Dragon’s showrunner and the rift that has formed between Martin and Condal.
“It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal,” Martin described of his relationship with Condal. “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. Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me.”
Martin continued to note that things got so bad that he was told by HBO he should submit all notes about the episodes to them to be relayed to Condal.
While it was shocking to hear how bad the relationship had gotten, the writing has been on the wall for some time now. Martin sent HBO into damage control mode after a lengthy blog post in which he called out some of his many issues with House of the Dragon. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that tension reached a turning point during a Zoom call ahead of season 3 in which Condal outlined his vision for the season. Following Condal’s presentation, Martin reportedly expressed many objections and allegedly stated that, “This is not my story any longer.”
The comments have left fans divided and brought about a lot of negative press for House of the Dragon. While Bloys recognizes that all families will have disagreements, he wishes Martin would have kept things in-house and not put their drama on display for the world to see.
"Like any good American family, I would prefer that our dysfunction stays behind closed doors. But here we are," Bloys told Deadline when asked about Martin's recent comments. "What I would say is George introduced us to Ryan as the person that he thought would be the best to create House of the Dragon. And I will say Ryan has been an excellent showrunner and a really great partner and collaborator, so we embrace his vision and his creative choices, or we wouldn’t have done it."
We definitely understand his frustrations in having the drama unfold in the public eye and the way in which it’s creating negative attention for the show ahead of its return this summer. He’s in a tough spot, stuck in the middle of these two creative individuals who are both important figures within the HBO brand.
It’s not at all surprising that Bloys would prefer Martin not drag Condal through the mud publicly, especially when the network is working to maintain a relationship with both parties. In fact, he made it clear that Martin remains a key part of the HBO family, even if he’s not as involved with House of the Dragon these days.
"Listen, I consider it great to have George as the architect of this world. I mean, think about what he has created, the world, the families, the battles, all of the history, it’s pretty extraordinary. George is a great partner for us to have. The idea that he is going to agree with every creator or showrunner that is either developing or producing, two artists are not always going to agree. So, some of this comes with the territory."
With House of the Dragon season 3 coming this summer, it’ll be interesting to see if Martin will comment further on his problems with House of the Dragon and Condal. One thing that is certain is HBO would much rather the family drama take place behind closed doors, though that seems unlikely.
It's also going to be interesting to see how HBO continues to walk the line between supporting both Martin and Condal as the battle between the pair wages on. One would imagine that if push comes to shove, maintaining the relationship with Martin will continue to be a top priority given how crucial the Game of Thrones IP is to the company.