Game of Thrones fans have long known that author George R.R. Martin isn’t a fan of the spinoff series House of the Dragon, but now he’s making it clear just how much he doesn’t get along with showrunner Ryan Condal.
Martin, 77, opened up about the dispute in a cover story for The Hollywood Reporter published Thursday, January 15, explaining that he and Condal initially had a great working relationship.
“I hired Ryan,” Martin told the outlet. “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 the Song of Ice and Fire author, that changed in season 2 after Condal’s co-showrunner, Miguel Sapochnik, left the HBO series.
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“Then we got into season 2, and he basically stopped listening to me,” Martin claimed. “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.”
Asked about where his relationship with Condal stands now, Martin replied, “It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal.”
As fans may recall, Martin publicly aired his grievances with House of the Dragon in a September 2024 blog post titled “Beware the Butterflies.” According to THR, an HBO executive called Martin’s team, who then removed the post — which was apparently one of six that he originally planned to write about his problems with House of the Dragon.
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Martin told THR he couldn’t say anything else about the situation, but sources claimed to the outlet that the drama “came to a head during a Zoom call with the show’s producers and some HBO executives.” After Condal shared his plans for season 3, Martin allegedly said, “This is not my story any longer.”
Condal didn’t comment for the THR article, instead pointing to a statement he gave Entertainment Weekly in March 2025. “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,” Condal said at the time. “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.”
House of the Dragon debuted in 2022 and was the first Game of Thrones spinoff to premiere after the flagship series ended in 2019. Season 3 was filmed last year, but a premiere date has not yet been announced.
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A second spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, premieres on HBO Sunday, January 18, and is based on a series of novellas set 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones. While only six episodes have been produced for the first season, Martin is far more pleased with the results than he is with House of the Dragon.
“It turned out very well, and I’m very happy with season 1,” he told THR. “The casting was a home run. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is terrific and seems to have the same priorities I do — he’s trying to do something that’s very true to the characters.”
