HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Showrunner Breaks Silence on George R.R. Martin’s Criticism

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has finally addressed the now-deleted blog post in which George R.R. Martin publicly critiqued the series,and it’s clear the feedback stung.Martin’s post, titled “Beware the Butterflies,” briefly lived on his Not A Blog last September before vanishing. But not before fans copied, archived, and dissected it. In it, Martin took issue with creative liberties the show had taken, particularly the accumulation of seemingly minor changes that, in his view, have snowballed into something bigger, something emotionally untrue to the story he wrote. Among his complaints was the exclusion of Prince Maelor Targaryen during the brutal “Blood & Cheese” sequence, which he argued fundamentally alters the trajectory of Helaena’s arc.Condal, who hadn’t seen the post before it was taken down, responded in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying the whole situation was frustrating, especially coming from someone he’s looked up to for decades.“It was disappointing,” Condal said bluntly. “I will simply say I’ve been a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire for almost 25 years now, and working on the show has been truly one of the great privileges of, not only my career as a writer, but my life as a fan of science-fiction and fantasy. “George himself is a monument, a literary icon in addition to a personal hero of mine, and was heavily influential on me coming up as a writer.”That admiration hasn’t disappeared, but it’s clear there’s been a disconnect between the two over how to adapt Fire & Blood, a pseudo-historical text filled with unreliable narrators, into a serialized drama that needs definitive characters, choices, and timelines. According to Condal, Martin hasn’t been fully open to the constraints that come with turning that world into a TV series.“I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process,” Condal went on. “I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time. “But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way. And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time.”There’s also the massive scale and complexity of modern television production to consider, which is something Condal has to juggle in addition to honoring Martin’s vision.“At the end of the day, I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that’s my job,” Condal continued. “So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday. But that’s what I have to say about it.”As for the Maelor Targaryen change? Condal is standing by the decision and insists it wasn’t taken lightly.“There’s nothing we do on the show without talking it through and thinking about it very deeply for usually many months, if not years,” he said. “I will just say that the creative decisions that we make in the show all flow through me, every single one of them, and this is the show that I want to make and believe, as a fan of Fire & Blood and a deep reader of this material, it is the adaptation that we should be making to not only serve Fire & Blood, but also a massive television audience.”Season 3 of House of the Dragon is already in production, with a premiere likely in 2026. In the meantime, HBO will roll out A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms later this year, continuing to expand Westeros on screen.Source: Entertainment Weekly

Apr 8, 2025 - 17:02

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Showrunner Breaks Silence on George R.R. Martin’s Criticism

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has finally addressed the now-deleted blog post in which George R.R. Martin publicly critiqued the series,and it’s clear the feedback stung.

Martin’s post, titled “Beware the Butterflies,” briefly lived on his Not A Blog last September before vanishing. But not before fans copied, archived, and dissected it.

In it, Martin took issue with creative liberties the show had taken, particularly the accumulation of seemingly minor changes that, in his view, have snowballed into something bigger, something emotionally untrue to the story he wrote.

Among his complaints was the exclusion of Prince Maelor Targaryen during the brutal “Blood & Cheese” sequence, which he argued fundamentally alters the trajectory of Helaena’s arc.

Condal, who hadn’t seen the post before it was taken down, responded in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying the whole situation was frustrating, especially coming from someone he’s looked up to for decades.

“It was disappointing,” Condal said bluntly. “I will simply say I’ve been a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire for almost 25 years now, and working on the show has been truly one of the great privileges of, not only my career as a writer, but my life as a fan of science-fiction and fantasy.

“George himself is a monument, a literary icon in addition to a personal hero of mine, and was heavily influential on me coming up as a writer.”

That admiration hasn’t disappeared, but it’s clear there’s been a disconnect between the two over how to adapt Fire & Blood, a pseudo-historical text filled with unreliable narrators, into a serialized drama that needs definitive characters, choices, and timelines.

According to Condal, Martin hasn’t been fully open to the constraints that come with turning that world into a TV series.

“I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process,” Condal went on. “I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time.

“But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way. And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time.”

There’s also the massive scale and complexity of modern television production to consider, which is something Condal has to juggle in addition to honoring Martin’s vision.

“At the end of the day, I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that’s my job,” Condal continued.

“So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday. But that’s what I have to say about it.”

As for the Maelor Targaryen change? Condal is standing by the decision and insists it wasn’t taken lightly.

“There’s nothing we do on the show without talking it through and thinking about it very deeply for usually many months, if not years,” he said.

“I will just say that the creative decisions that we make in the show all flow through me, every single one of them, and this is the show that I want to make and believe, as a fan of Fire & Blood and a deep reader of this material, it is the adaptation that we should be making to not only serve Fire & Blood, but also a massive television audience.”

Season 3 of House of the Dragon is already in production, with a premiere likely in 2026.

In the meantime, HBO will roll out A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms later this year, continuing to expand Westeros on screen.

Source: Entertainment Weekly