‘Game of Thrones’ Author George R.R. Martin Shocks Fans By Throwing Shade on “Everything That’s Gone Wrong with ‘House of the Dragon’”

In a shocking turn of events, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin took to his “Not a Blog” blog on Friday, August 30, 2024 to hint at some major grievances with HBO’s latest season of House of the Dragon. After sharing that he’s had “a pretty wretched year” and explaining his recent radio silence due to travel abroad, Martin wrote, “I do not look forward to other posts I need to write, about everything that’s gone wrong with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON… but I need to do that too, and I will. Not today, though.”  

Martin’s displeasure with the hit HBO show has already rippled through the franchise’s fandom, with speculation running rampant about the author’s specific problems with House of the Dragon Season 2. Did he want there to be more episodes? More battles? Was he perturbed that fan favorite character Nettles was cut in favor of beefing up Rhaenys’s (Phoebe Campbell) story? Did he not care for Hugh the Hammer (Kieran Bew) being made Saera Targaryen’s son? What does he mean by “everything that’s gone wrong”???

Martin’s comments are especially fascinating because he’s been hitherto quite supportive of the HBO adaptation of his work. On July 11, Martin wrote about how happy he was with how the Battle of Rook’s Rest came to life in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 “The Red Dragon and the Gold.” Martin literally said, “Our guys knocked this one out of the castle,” before going long on the mythological nature of dragons.

On July 5, Martin used his blog to praise the first two episodes of House of the Dragon, singling out the “superb” direction of Alan Taylor and Clare Kilner, before gushing about the acting. Martin also admitted that the show was able to do more with Helaena’s (Phia Saban) character than he could in the books before expressing jealousy that he had not thought to give Cheese (Mark Stobbart) a dog.

However, at the end of that July 5 post, Martin did hint that he had some issues with how the “Blood & Cheese” sequence was adapted for the screen, writing, “Well, there’s  a lot of be said about that, but this is not the place for me to say it.  The issues are too complicated.   Somewhere down the line, I will do a separate post about all the issues raised by Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing. There’s a lot to say.”

So is Martin upset by the many divergences from the source material that series showrunner Ryan Condal made? Was he, like many fans, put out that we didn’t get to end the season with they much-hyped Battle of the Gullet?

The one silver lining for fans reading Martin’s latest entry in his “Not a Blog” has to be the nuggets he shared about HBO’s other Game of Thrones prequel currently in production. Martin confirmed that he visited the set of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, writing, “We had five great days in Belfast and environs, and that made me feel so much better.”

For now, though, Game of Thrones fans are surely girding the loins and feverishly waiting to hear what exactly Martin took issue with in the second season of House of the Dragon…