George R.R. Martin Does Not Hold Back on 'Abysmal' Relationship With HBO Showrunner

The HBO hit series House of the Dragon is a spinoff prequel series ofGame of Thrones. Like the original series, it is based on the novels written by best-selling author George R.R. Martin. However, Martin clearly is not a fan of the direction of the show, nor does he get along with the showrunner.

During a recent interview, Martin, who is listed as a co-creator and executive producer on the series, got quite candid about his relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal.

An 'Abysmal' Relationship

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Martin was asked about his "rocky" relationship with Condal, the showrunner and co-creator of House of the Dragon. Martin did not hold back from giving his honest thoughts.

“It’s worse than rocky, It’s abysmal,” Martin said of his relationship with Condal.

Without going too deep into the plot and risking spoilers, Martin was upset about changes to his book’s characters that impact key plot points.

“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,” Martin told The Hollywood Reporter.

Martin said their relationship started to deteriorate during the production of the second season of the show.

“Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me. 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,” Martin said.

Not the First Time Martin Has Been Critical

This is not the first time that Martin has shared some of his grievances with the second season of the show. One night in 2024, while the second season was airing, Martin published a blog post that was titled “Beware the Butterflies,” where he publicly revealed some of his complaints with the show.

Needless to say, HBO was not happy about the post, as Martin said an HBO executive called Martin’s manager, who then called Martin’s assistant, who ultimately unpublished the post.

“I would’ve put it back up, but then I would’ve looked like an idiot,” Martin told The Hollywood Reporter. “And 80 percent of it was praise, but that’s not what people focused on.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Condal and Martin got into a disagreement during a meeting with the show’s producers and some HBO executives. After Condal presented his vision for the third season of the show, Martin reportedly voiced his many objections and allegedly said, “This is not my story any longer.”

Condal Has Addressed Their Relationship

While Condal did not comment on the latest story for The Hollywood Reporter, he has addressed his relationship with Martin in the past.

“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 .. 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,” Condal told Entertainment Weekly last year.

As a result of the disagreement, Martin briefly stepped away from the production of House of the Dragon altogether. However, he has since returned. The show is expected to release its third season this year, followed by an eventual fourth season, which will be the last.