House of the Dragon showrunner hits back at George R.R. Martin criticism as filming begins on hit HBO TV show's third season

• Filming is officially underway on House of the Dragon season 3
• The announcement has been overshadowed by a spat between its showrunner and George R.R. Martin
• It's unclear what the tit for tat means for Martin's future involvement with the HBO TV show

House of the Dragon (HOTD) is renowned for the incendiary fallout that destroys House Targaryen from within, but it appears that life is imitating art as filming gets underway on the hit HBO TV Original's third season.

Yesterday (March 31), HBO confirmed that House of the Dragon season 3 has entered full production ahead of its to-be-announced release date on Max (US and Australia) and Sky/Now TV (UK).

Pleasing as this news is, it's since been overshadowed by an increasingly fraught tit-for-tat between the live-action series' showrunner and George R.R. Martin. The latter, of course, is the fantasy book namesake's author and world-famous creator of Game of Thrones, aka HOTD's multi-novel sequel that was also turned into a hugely popular HBO TV show.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, HOTD showrunner Ryan Condal responded to comments made by Martin in a September 2024 blog post that's since been deleted.

Writing to fans at the time, Martin failed to hide his disappointment over the creative decisions that were taken for House of the Dragon season 2. Issues that Martin brought to light, as reported by IGN last September, included the absence of Aegon and Helaena's third child Maelor, the latter's importance to the shocking 'Blood and Cheese' storyline, and how this major change sets the stage for even more "toxic" alterations to be made in one of the best Max shows' third and fourth seasons.

Seven months on from Martin publicly airing his frustrations, Condal acknowledged that such changes would disappoint Martin the "literary icon... and personal hero of mine", as well as HOTD and Thrones' global fanbase. Nevertheless, he sought to defend himself against Martin's remonstrations before politely suggesting that the legendary author became difficult to work with.

"It [the Targaryen civil war] is this incomplete history and it requires a lot of joining of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way," Condal said.

"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," he added. "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."

New details on House of the Dragon season 3 revealed

Away from the increasingly fiery exchange between the two creatives, Condal and HBO revealed new information on the hit series' forthcoming season.

In a press release, HBO announced Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy) and Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts) had signed on to play Ser Roderick Dustin and Ser Torrhen Manderly in season 3. The duo join fellow newcomer James Norton (Happy Valley), who was previously confirmed to have joined the case as Ormund Hightower.

Elsewhere, Condal teased that the Battle of the Gullet, one of the most important conflicts in the Targaryen civil war, will be adapted in season 3. Lastly, HBO revealed the show's next chapter will, like its forebear, contain eight episodes rather than the 10 that collectively told season 1's story.

For more HOTD coverage, refresh your memory with what happened last time around by reading my House of the Dragon season 2 ending explained piece. Alternatively, see if you agree with our ranking of the best Game of Thrones seasons.

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