House Of The Dragon Showrunner Responds To GRRM Criticism As Production Begins On Season 3

In a recent interview House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal responds to GRRM criticism as production on Season 3 begins. Condal and several stars have been chatting to various trades as Season 3 gets underway. However, I think the most spicy of the interview came from EW.

The trade asked Condal about the recent criticisms that GRRM (George R. R. Martin) made against Season 2, then deleted. You can find that full statement, which I copied from an image in the related section below.

Here’s what Condal had to say in response.

‘Condal addresses the post for the first time, telling EW he didn’t see it himself but was told about it. “It was disappointing,” he admits. “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.”‘

RELATED: GRRM Posts His House Of The Dragon Critique – Then Deletes It – Here It Is

‘Condal acknowledges he’s said most of this in previous interviews, including how Fire & Blood isn’t a traditional narrative. “It’s this incomplete history and it requires a lot of joining of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way,” he continues. “I will simply say, I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. 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. 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. So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday. But that’s what I have to say about it.”

I’m sure everyone will have their own opinions, and none of us know what Condal gets set in stone from HBO. However, certainly many authors understand where Martin was coming from. Equally, I’m sure there are also TV showrunners out there who sympathise with Condal.

My Take

Purely as a fan, looking at the final product, for me Season 1 was far superior to Season 2. I do think there were choices made in Season 2 which didn’t work. To me they don’t seem like choices made du to production restraints. Though, perhaps I’m wrong on that. I’ve been quite impressed recently with Wheel of Time‘s showrunner Rafe Judkins’ comments. Judkins has been honest with fans about why some things have been cut in the show. Usually it’s time, and/or budget, which he doesn’t control. There won’t be many showrunners out there who don’t have the same battle scars. It’s the between their vision and what the people paying the bills are willing to indulge.

That being said, I’ll never side with the soulless executives who make the biggest calls in this industry. They’re not successful writers, if they were, they wouldn’t be running studios. I just won’t always rush to blame the showrunners all the time. Sometimes they are gagged from really saying what they think.

Production on House of the Dragon Season 3 is underway, check the source article for a tease of what’s to come.

What do you think as House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal responds to GRRM criticism as production on Season 3 begins? Thoughts below.

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