A recent article about all things Westeros shows us that a Game of Thrones sequel series is not dead, yet. Plus, creator GRRM (George R. R. Martin) has an ‘abysmal’ relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. The THR article is worth a read in full. I will only be covering the two points mentioned in the title and there’s much more.
But if all you want is the big headlines, then this is them.
‘One previously reported idea is based on Dragon‘s seafaring character the Sea Snake. This development has quietly shifted from a live-action project to animated to keep costs down. Another is based on King Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros and is being developed by HBO as a possible drama series and by the Warner Bros. film team as a mammoth Dune-sized feature film.’
I think I’d rather have a film of Aegon’s Conquest than a series, given we need to see some real spectacle with that one.
Sequel Ideas
As for the Jon Snow sequel idea Snow. THR reveals some of the story details and frankly, it sounds a bit rubbish after all. Yet, they also reveal there is another potential sequel ide in the works set post-Game of Thrones.
‘THR broke the news of the development in 2022 but held back story details to protect against spoilers. Harington, working with two writers from his drama series Gunpowder, was interested in mapping out a tale of Snow living alone as a broken man with PTSD. Having chased off his direwolf Ghost and thrown away his sword Longclaw, Jon spent his time building cabins and burning them back down again. Harington also wanted Jon to die and to avoid being a hero.’
‘The story echoed, in some respects, Harington’s personal struggles — entering rehab following an intense shooting experience on Thrones. (“I went through some mental health difficulties,” the actor has said. “I think it was directly due to the nature of the show.”)’
‘HBO found the “broken Jon Snow” idea too much of a bummer and eventually pushed it aside. Yet in recent days, sources say a new writer (Quoc Dang Tran from Drops of God) has come aboard to revive the sequel idea. While the story is still being fleshed out, one possibility is shifting the drama to the Mediterranean-like land of Essos and adding another hugely popular legacy character — Arya Stark (who was played by Maisie Williams in Thrones).’
House of the Dragon
Finally some quotes attributed to GRRM specifically regarding his relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. GRRM famously posted a rant on his Not a Blog letter and then deleted it. If you want to read what it says, see the related link below.
“It’s worse than rocky,” Martin says, looking miserable. “It’s abysmal.”
‘Without getting into spoilers, Martin’s gripes about Dragon stem from disputes over changes to his book’s characters that impact key plot points.’
“I hired Ryan,” Martin says. “I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all through the first season. I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought.”
‘When Ryan came to loggerheads with original Dragon co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, Ryan asked for Martin’s support in their dispute, and got it (Sapochnik left the show after season one).’
“Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me,” Martin says. “I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn’t doing it. Other times, he would tell me, ‘Oh, OK, yeah, I’ll think about that.’ It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes.”
RELATED: GRRM Posts His House Of The Dragon Critique – Then Deletes It – Here It Is
‘Martin says he can’t say anything beyond this. But sources say Martin and Condal’s relationship deteriorated further and came to a head during a Zoom call with the show’s producers and some HBO executives. The purpose of the call was for Condal to present his vision for season three. After Condal spoke, Martin detailed his many objections and allegedly declared, “This is not my story any longer.”’
The site goes into more detail about what happened after the Zoom call, but we know most of that. HBO released a statement and then so did Condal.
“George and Ryan had a disagreement on the direction of season three,” an HBO insider says. “At that point, it was clear that the process and communication with them was broken and needed a reset. So there was naturally a period where everyone took a step back for a while until we could figure out a new way forward.”
House of the Dragon Season 1 was exemplary. Season 2 started fine, but quickly veered off in terms of quality due to some very odd changes in the story. You can find my finale review and work back from Here.
So, there might still be a Game of Thrones sequel and GRRM’s relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal remains abysmal. Thoughts below as always.
Oh, and no, there’s no news about GRRM making any progress on Winds of Winter, or any of the Dunk and Egg novels, which HBO has already started making into a series. Another one unfinished is my guess.
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