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George R. R. Martin Reveals He Has “Abysmal” Relationship With House Of The Dragon Showrunner

On Jan 16, 2026 11:12 am, by NuclearCoffee

George R. R. Martin has made it clear that he isn’t happy with the direction House of the Dragon is taking, warning in a blog post last year that “there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come” as a result of the changes made to the source material.

Ahead of Season 3, he sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to explain his troubles with the production, revealing that his relationship with showrunner Ryan Condal isn’t just rocky, “It’s abysmal”.

“I hired Ryan,” Martin explained. “I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all the way 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.”

“It Got Worse And Worse, And I Began To Get More And More Annoyed”

Rhaenyra wearing a crown and looking sad in House of the Dragon

However, after Condal butted heads with co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, leading to his departure after season one (which George R. R. Martin supported Condal in), Martin claimed he “stopped listening”.

“I would give notes, and nothing would happen,” Martin said. “Sometimes he would explain why he wasn’t doing it. Other times, he would tell me, ‘Oh, okay, 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.”

An image of George R. R. Martin, with a drawing of a dragon in the background

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Martin was just as taken aback as we were when a “fan” told him he’s “not going to be around for much longer.”

While Martin can’t go into much more detail, the pair allegedly clashed over a Zoom call with producers and HBO execs when Condal laid out his plans for Season 3. “This is not my story any longer,” Martin reportedly told him.

Condal has not responded to Martin’s latest comments on the situation, but he stated last year in an interview with EW that he “made every effort to include George in the adaptation process” but that “he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way”.