House of the Dragon might be coming to an end, but Ryan Condal won’t be leaving HBO anytime soon!
The co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of House of the Dragon has extended his current deal with HBO, keeping him in the HBO family through 2029. This marks the second extension of Condal’s original deal with HBO, which was first signed in 2020 and extended in 2022 following the breakout success of the first season of House of the Dragon.
Details about Condal’s latest exclusive overall deal extension remain limited, but Deadline, which was first to report the news, hints that this deal will leave him time to develop and produce new series for HBO after House of the Dragon comes to a close with its fourth and final season. It remains to be seen whether any of the new projects Condal might spearhead will be set within the Game of Thrones franchise, but it seems likely that Condal could oversee another Game of Thrones spinoff given the success of House of the Dragon.
News of Condal's new deal with HBO is sure to divide the fans, as everything Condal and House of the Dragon seem to do these days.
Condal has come under a lot of heat through House of the Dragon's run for making changes to the source material from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. While Condal and Martin started on a really strong note, their partnership has soured in recent years, with Martin giving a scathing interview with The Hollywood Reporter in January, at which time he described his relationship with Condal as "abysmal."
“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. Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter.
While Condal has pulled inspiration from Martin's works, he's taken more creative control of the show as the seasons have gone by. This has led to changes in certain storylines that have divided the fandom, with some praising the creative liberties taken with the show as others have joined Martin in criticizing the direction Condal has taken House of the Dragon.
Although Martin and Condal's relationship has taken a turn for the worse, HBO's faith in Condal has never wavered.
HBO Chief Casey Bloys has long championed Condal and his vision for the show, which launched as the most-watched HBO series debut ever with 9.9 million viewers across linear and HBO Max. The show's first two seasons rank as the most-watched show on HBO Max and the show remains a success for the network.
After Martin's January comments, Bloys was quick to defend Condal making it clear that they embrace Condal's vision and creative choices for the show.
"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," Bloys noted at the time when asked about Martin's comments.
HBO's decision to extend Condal's deal through 2029 makes it clear that these were not just empty words in the wake of controversy and that HBO recognizes the value Condal brings to the network. There is no denying that House of the Dragon season 3 could be the show's biggest season yet, and HBO clearly feels confident not only in Condal's ability to land the plane with the show's final two seasons but also is eager to keep him in the fold beyond House of the Dragon's run.
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