Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin has revealed he’s no longer on speaking terms with the House of the Dragon showrunner, Ryan Condal.
As the mastermind behind one of the buzziest shows of the 21st century (for better or for worse), the world of Westeros has since been expanded with two spin-offs, including the epic prequel series, House of the Dragon.
Starring Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, and Olivia Cooke, the award-winning drama – co-created by Ryan Condal – will return this summer, but it has not been without its challenges.
Ahead of the release of the latest offshoot, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Martin shed light on just how catastrophically his relationship with Condal has soured over the course of three seasons.
‘It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal,’ the bestselling author said.
He continued to Hollywood Reporter: ‘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.’
According to Martin, the situation rapidly took a turn for the worse after season one co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik exited the show due to disagreements, in which Martin backed Condal.
By season two ‘[Condal] basically stopped listening to me’, the writer claimed.
He revealed: ‘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, OK, 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.’
This is not the first time the fantasy novelist has aired the behind-the-scenes issues which have wracked production.
In September 2024, he released a since-deleted blog post in which he slammed decisions made on the TV adaptation, calling them ‘toxic butterflies’ (minor changes with big consequences).
He also said he agreed with fans who called a scene in the season two premiere ‘underwhelming, a disappointment, and watered down’ after certain changes were made to a character’s death.
Then he criticised the direction the show was heading in the third season.
The rant was slammed as ‘unprofessional’ by fans, who came to the show’s defence.
Still, to Hollywood Reporter, Martin admitted: ‘I would’ve put it back up, but then I would’ve looked like an idiot. And 80 percent of it was praise, but that’s not what people focused on.’
At the time, Condal told EW that the blog post was ‘disappointing’.
He praised Martin’s fictional mastery while defending his own creative decisions in the adaptation, saying that ultimately the TV version required ‘a lot of invention as you go along the way’.
The showrunner said that he ‘made every effort to include George in the adaptation process’ but ‘at some point, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way’.
With plans to ‘keep marching forward for the sake of the crew, the cast and for HBO’, he concluded: ‘I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday.’
HBO also released a statement, saying: ‘There are few greater fans of George RR Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO.
‘Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow.’
‘We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.’
Metro has reached out to Ryan Condal’s representatives for comment.
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