HBO execs "frustrated but not surprised" over George R.R. Martin blasting House of the Dragon

Somehow, a week later, there are still new developments in the George R.R. Martin-vs-House of the Dragon drama. To briefly recap, Martin had been teasing for a while that he had problems with the second season of House of the Dragon, which is based on his book Fire & Blood. The floodgates opened when he wrote a blog post where he took aim at showrunner Ryan Condal's decision to cut a book character called Maelor Targaryen from the show, although I got the idea that this was just an example of Martin picking one issue and making it emblematic of some of the bigger problems he had with the adaptation. Martin teased that there were bigger, more "toxic" changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4, and considering how much of the book the show changed in its second season — far more than it did in season 1 — it's easy to imagine why he'd be concerned.

Martin deleted the blog post shortly thereafter and HBO released a statement in support of Condal. They also released a podcast episode where Condal defended some of his adaptation choices, almost like they knew Martin was going to start publicly criticizing the show. Indeed, The Hollywood Reporter has since talked to an HBO insider who says executives were "frustrated but not surprised" that Martin made this move. Apparently Martin has been making his misgivings about House of the Dragon's adaptation choices known to HBO for a while. It's been theorized that Martin went public with his concerns only after he exhausted attempts to get them addressed privately. That's sounding more and more like it's the case.

Martin has also written about spending sleepless nights working through fits of "fury and despair," so it seems like this has really been bothering him. THR kind of makes it sound like his complaints have been building up for a long time, from back when Martin was holding his tongue as Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss changed things from his Song of Ice and Fire books, but I don't know if I agree with that. It's true that Game of Thrones changed plenty of things from Martin's books. But back when Benioff and Weiss actually had source material to adapt (Martin famously hasn't completed his Song of Ice and Fire series, which meant that Game of Thrones eventually had to venture into the unknown), the changes weren't as deep and severe as those the second season of House of the Dragon made to Fire & Blood. For Ryan Condal and his team to change things this much when they actually have completed source material to work from...again, I can see Martin's perspective.

George R.R. Martin asked to comment on House of the Dragon, praises entirely different Game of Thrones prequel

Martin hasn't directly criticized House of the Dragon since that big post, but he has shaded it by pointedly leaving it out of lists of things in his life that have brought him joy lately. He continued in that vein when THR reached out to him for comment on the House of the Dragon situation. Martin responded by praising an upcoming Game of Thrones prequel show called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is based on his Dunk and Egg novellas:

"I visited the set in Northern Ireland in July and loved what I saw. Great cast. [The lead characters] Dunk and Egg look as if they walked out of the pages of my book. My readers are going to love them. I certainly do. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is doing a great job."

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms does indeed look really good! The first season is set to air on HBO and Max sometime in 2025. House of the Dragon will likely return for its third season sometime in 2026. But what will the relationship between Martin and HBO look like by that time? I have no idea.

Personally, I hope Condal and his team — who I don't think are acting maliciously and are perfectly talented in their own right — take Martin's advice and stick closer to the book. We all expect changes to be made in the transition from book to screen, but too often, the changes on House of the Dragon have gone too far and essentially created an entirely new story. For example, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower are working against each other in the book but working with each other on the show. When your adaptation has two important character behaving in the complete opposite way that they do in the source material, I think it's time to step back and ask if you should recalibrate.

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