The creative partnership behind HBO’s biggest show has broken down. George R. R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones books, says his relationship with Ryan Condal, the showrunner of the prequel series House of the Dragon, is now “abysmal”. In a new interview, Martin explained that after a strong first season, Condal “basically stopped listening to me” during work on the second season. The conflict reached a point where Martin declared during a meeting for the upcoming third season, “This is not my story any longer“.
The Breakdown of a Creative Partnership
Martin hired Condal to bring his book Fire & Blood to television. The author believed they were partners. During the show’s first season, the process worked well. Martin would read early script drafts, give notes, and Condal would make changes.
“I hired Ryan,” Martin said. “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.”
The situation changed when work began on season two. After co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik left the series, Condal became the sole person in charge. According to Martin, Condal then stopped acting on his feedback.
“Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me,” Martin continued. “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.’”
The relationship deteriorated so much that HBO executives stepped in. They told Martin to submit all his notes directly to the network. The network would then give Condal a combined set of notes from Martin and HBO.
A Public Dispute Over Story Changes
The tension became public in September 2024. Martin published a detailed blog post criticizing specific changes Condal made to the story. He focused on the adaptation of a key event from the book known as “Blood and Cheese”. In this scene, Queen Helaena’s son is murdered. In the book, Helaena has to choose which of her two sons will die. In the show, she only has one son, so the choice was removed.
Martin argued that the change made the scene less powerful. He said the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the darkest and most visceral part. The author revealed he had argued against cutting the second son, a character named Maelor. He said Condal promised the character could be introduced later, but that plan was later abandoned entirely. Martin warned this would create a “butterfly effect,” causing more problems for future seasons.
Perhaps most surprising, Martin’s blog post included a spoiler for season three. He stated that in Condal’s outline, Queen Helaena still takes her own life, but “for no particular reason” because the triggering event from the book involving Maelor cannot happen.
“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…”
The blog post was deleted within hours. Martin later said an HBO executive contacted his manager, who had the post removed while Martin was asleep. HBO issued a statement supporting Condal, saying showrunners must make difficult choices when adapting a book for television.
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The Current Stalemate and Another Show’s Success
Following the clash over the direction for season three, HBO described the communication between Martin and Condal as “broken and needed a reset”. All parties took a step back to find a “new way forward”. Martin is now back working on the show in some capacity, but told The Hollywood Reporter, “I can’t talk about it” when asked why he returned.
In contrast, Martin has praised a different Game of Thrones project. He is closely involved with the new spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, which premieres January 18, 2026. Martin called it a “faithful adaptation” and has a positive relationship with its showrunner, Ira Parker. Parker said Martin was his “first read on any script”.
Production on House of the Dragon season three took place throughout much of 2025. HBO has announced the series will return in summer 2026, though an exact premiere date is not yet set. The network has also ordered a fourth season, which is planned to be the show’s last.
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