"It’s worse than rocky."
George RR Martin has opened up about the breakdown of his relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, describing its current state as "abysmal".
The fantasy author previously criticised the second season of the Game of Thrones prequel show, which is based on his book Fire & Blood, over plot changes that he said he "argued against" in a since-deleted blog post.
Asked about his relationship with Condal in a new interview in The Hollywood Reporter, Martin said: "It’s worse than rocky. It’s abysmal."
He continued: "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."
Condal’s co-showrunner, Miguel Sapochnik, exited the series following unknown disagreements with HBO after the first season.
"Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me," Martin said, before adding: "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."
When asked why Martin had agreed to work on season 3 after clashing with Condal, he said: "I can’t talk about it."
The third season of the Game of Thrones spin-off is set to debut later in 2026, which is shaping up to be a big year for the fantasy franchise, as new spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is also set to be released later in January.
House of the Dragon seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Sky and NOW – find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.
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Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
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