George R.R. Martin might just have explained what happened with House of the Dragon Season 2, which was nowhere near as good as the first season.
Relationship with showrunner completely deteriorated
In a new interview with THR, the Game of Thrones author says his relationship with showrunner Ryan Condal has completely deteriorated.
“It’s worse than rocky,” Martin said. “It’s abysmal.”
Martin says the two worked well during Season 1 of the hit Game of Thrones prequel, but that changed by Season 2.
All downhill after Season 1
Martin explained his fallout with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal began after Season 1, when Condal allegedly stopped listening to Martin’s creative input.
Despite once being close collaborators, Martin claims his notes were ignored in Season 2, eventually leading HBO to filter his feedback through the network.
Tensions escalated when Martin published a blog post airing his frustrations, which was quickly pulled after HBO intervened, but not before it spread online.
According to Martin, Condal stopped listening to his notes and HBO eventually asked the author to submit feedback through them instead of directly. The tension reached a breaking point during a Season 3 planning Zoom call.
“This is not my story any longer,” Martin reportedly told Condal and HBO producers on the call.
HBO Asked Martin to Step Back From the Series
Following the clash, HBO temporarily removed Martin from involvement in House of the Dragon. He’s since been brought back, though the studio declined to detail how much input he now has.
Martin has long said he believes adaptations of his work should remain faithful to the source material, and he clearly feels Dragon is drifting too far.
Condal previously said he tried to include Martin in the process but ultimately had to “march forward” to keep production on track.
Season 2 of House of the Dragon premieres later this year, but behind-the-scenes drama might be just as fiery as anything involving the Targaryens on screen.
