House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has called Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin's criticisms of the series' second season "disappointing" following remarks the author published last year.

The drama surrounding the Game of Thrones universe began when Martin promised to dive into "everything that's gone wrong with House of the Dragon" in August 2024. He kept his word, going on to call out plot elements related to Aegon and Helaena's children, expressing concern about how future seasons of the show might unfold. The post was eventually removed from the author's website without explanation, but not before thousands of fans – and HBO – took note of the grievances it presented.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal shared his updated thoughts on Martin's misgivings. He highlighted the strain in their relationship as the most painful aspect. "It was disappointing," he explained. "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."

Condal acknowledged that it can be unfortunate for Martin and fans when House of the Dragon deviates from its source material, Fire & Blood. However, he emphasized that adapting beloved books for television can lead to complex situations. "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 added. "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."

Condal elaborated on the challenges he faced: "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."

The House of the Dragon lead added that every creative decision takes "many months, if not years" to finalize, and everything goes through him before it hits the screens. He said the goal is to create a show that appeals not only to Game of Thrones readers but also to "a massive television audience."

While HBO's relationship with Martin has faced some challenges over the years, the two have several more collaborations in the works. Although a few projects have been shelved since Game of Thrones first gained popularity, audiences can look forward to seeing the network collaborate with the acclaimed fantasy author on projects like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and, potentially, another Targaryen-centered spinoff. In fact, Martin has already described the former as a "faithful adaptation."

Meanwhile, House of the Dragon has begun production on Season 3, following a successful second season, which received a 7/10 in our review.