HBO still faithful to “House of the Dragon” despite creative conflicts

With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we get more Dragon House This year. HBO hasn’t shown much of the latter series’ upcoming third season so far, but it’s been talked about recently, particularly because author George RR Martin has been vocally unhappy with showrunner Ryan Condal’s many changes of his books.

HBO executive Casey Bloys was asked about the rift by Deadlinewhere he praised both parties: he wished Martin’s thoughts had “remained behind closed doors”, but otherwise considered the author “a great partner to have”. As for Condal, Bloys noted that Martin introduced him as the right person to lead the series, and he has since been “an excellent showrunner and a very good collaborator. We embrace his vision and his creative choices, otherwise we wouldn’t have done it.” He even noted the first two Dragon seasons are well-regarded on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Some of it comes with the territory,” Bloys continued. “The idea that [George] will agree with every creator or showrunner who develops or produces – no two artists will always agree.

Since then, Martin has moved to Kingdoms and was not as involved in the third season of Dragon as he normally would have been, and Bloys hasn’t said whether he’ll be involved again for season four. As for this season, Bloys reiterated that the fourth will be the last, with Condal currently working with the writers to determine how many episodes will make up this season. Whatever the number, expect this season to work as a “natural ending to this particular story of this House of Targaryens.”

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