George R. R. Martin says his relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner has turned abysmal

George R R Martin has talked about his relationship with Ryan Condal. He says it has fallen apart dramatically in his work with House of the Dragon, causing a serious creative divide in HBO’s flagship fantasy series. George R, R. Martin, according to an interview said that the relationship has been far worse than rocky and definitely reached abysmal proportions.

George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal’s relationship hits breaking point

The core problem is a creative difference, wrote the author. He claimed that Condal stopped listening to”him after season one. The dynamic was fine during season one. Martin was on board with Condal’s creative ideas, even when they differed from those of former co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik. However, tensions escalated when Condal made more and more changes to characters’ story arcs based on George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood series.

This situation eventually led HBO to take direct action. George R. R. Martin explained that the indifference shown towards his detailed notes for season two influenced the style of communication. “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,” George explained. This basically brought HBO in between the writer and the producer, emphasizing the level of the conflict.

This was not the first instance Martin publicly spoke about the issue. He penned an article in the year 2024, titled ‘Beware the Butterflies,’ in which he criticized various aspects of Ryan’s strategy. While his article held praise, the media covered only the criticism, George recalled in an interview. The article was taken down from the website by the network, HBO, within days of it being published, though the article was widely circulated then.

According to reports, it all came to a head during a Zoom call featuring Martin, Condal, and some HBO reps. During this call, George was said to strongly disagree with Ryan’s plan for House of the Dragon Season 3, insisting it was “no longer his story.”

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