House of the Dragon creator, author George RR Martin recently made a candid admission about his relationship with its showrunner Ryan Condal. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin said that he does not have a particularly good relationship with Condal any longer. The author called it a worse relationship than just 'rocky' and admitted that it has gone on to 'abysmal' levels.
The two were getting along just fine right through the first season of the series, with Martin supporting Condal in his choices that did not have the favour of co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik. However, Martin claimed that Condal "stopped listening to" him from the second season onwards. The rift between the two arose from disagreements regarding the changes to the plot elements of the TV series based on Martin's book series.
Speaking about the second season, Martin said that Condal showed indifference to Martin's notes with suggestions regarding the series, causing the involvement of HBO in the issue. "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 RR Martin said.
This is not the first time the author and House of the Dragon creator is opening up about his relationship with its showrunner. In 2024, he shared an article, titled Beware the Butterflies, part of which contained some of the issues he had with Condal. HBO forced Martin to delete the article soon afterwards but not before publications carried stories about it. Martin argued that publications paid attention to just the negative parts he said about Condal in the article, even though much of it praised the latter.
While Martin did not reveal much else about the relationship, reports indicate that it reached a crisis point following a Zoom meeting between him, Condal, and HBO executives. Reportedly, in the meeting, Martin objected to Condal's vision for House of the Dragon's third season and claimed that it is no longer his story.
