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After George R.R. Martin made waves when he took to his blog to share criticism of the direction of House of the Dragon season 2, the Song of Ice and Fire creator has shared even more candid thoughts about what's going on behind the scenes of the Game of Thrones spin-off – and it seems the disagreement led to HBO asking Martin to step away from the show entirely, though he came back onboard months later.
The post, shared then quickly deleted in September 2024, railed against changes made to his source material that, Martin thought, would have negative knock-on effects as the show went on. "And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…" he wrote.
The Hollywood Reporter's latest cover story is a mammoth interview with Martin, and in it, Martin spoke frankly about the situation.
When asked how the relationship between Martin and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal "got so rocky," Martin said: "It's worse than rocky," adding, "It's abysmal."
Martin explained that, after their relationship "was working really well" in season 1 (with Martin reportedly backing Condal at his request during a disagreement with original co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, who left the show before season 2), things eventually changed.
"Then we got into season 2, and he basically stopped listening to me," Martin said. "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."
According to THR's sources, after a Zoom call involving Condal explaining his vision for season 3 saw Martin allegedly share objections and state "this is not my story any longer," HBO reportedly asked Martin to step away from House of the Dragon entirely – though he was brought back into the fold months later.
"George and Ryan had a disagreement on the direction of season three," an HBO insider told THR. "At that point, it was clear that the process and communication with them was broken and needed a reset. So there was naturally a period where everyone took a step back for a while until we could figure out a new way forward."
As for that infamous blog post, THR says Martin himself didn't remove it: instead, it was his assistant, acting after an HBO executive reached out to his manager. "I would've put it back up, but then I would've looked like an idiot,” Martin said, adding: "And 80 percent of it was praise, but that's not what people focused on."
Happily, though, Martin seems to be far more impressed by the next Westerosi spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. "George has been such a wonderful partner in this," showrunner Ira Parker said during a recent roundtable interview attended by GamesRadar+. "I spent a week in Santa Fe with him and some of his favorite writers, and we were just breaking ideas and breaking stories for what season 1 of the show could look like. And there were a lot of surprises that came out of there, just some really wonderful ideas, things that George gravitated towards that we were doing, that we were introducing."
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms arrives this January 18 on HBO in the US and January 19 on Sky/NOW in the UK. House of the Dragon season 3 is also coming this year, expected in the summer.
For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Game of Thrones movies and TV shows, or read our 4-star A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review.
