House of The Dragon showrunner does not agree with George R. R. Martin’s critique of the show 

The third season of the House of the Dragon is currently being filmed in the UK, and fans cannot wait to see the Dance of the Dragons. Showrunner Ryan Condal recently spoke with EW in an interview where he addressed George R. R. Martin's critique of the show. George R. R. Martin posted a blog in September last year, following up on his comment on a previous blog, where he had said he would soon talk more about,

"everything that's gone wrong with House of the Dragon."

The blog was deleted within hours, but in it, George R. R. Martin had criticized House of the Dragon for omitting the character of Maelor Targaryen and for not portraying the main characters of the 'Blood and Cheese' scene as cruel as they are in the book.

Addressing Martin's criticism of the show, Condal says to EW,

''It was disappointing,"

He continues,

"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."

How Does Ryan Condal Feel About George R. R. Martin's Criticism of House of the Dragon?

Being a fan of the books himself, Ryan greatly respects George R. R. Martin's work. Now, as a showrunner, he is careful in maintaining the integrity of the books. However, scenes don't always translate from books to the screen literally. Many practical things have to be taken into account before an adaptation is made. Moreover, the story of Fire and Blood is not the most straightforward one. It is a fragmented history that led up to a war that destroyed the most powerful house in the seven kingdoms.

Condal explains further,

"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, ... 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."

The showrunner does not harbor any negative feelings towards George R. R. Martin for his criticism of House of the Dragon. He has handled the situation like a responsible producer who is answerable to too many people. Some fans have sided with Martin while some with Condal. Hopefully, season 3 will give us more insight into whether the show has done the book justice without compromising the practicality.

House of the Dragon seasons 1 & 2 are currently streaming on Max.

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