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Before we talk about George R.R. Martin and House of the Dragon, let’s discuss another prominent creative: Steven Soderbergh and his 2017 comedy heist film Logan Lucky.
Logan Lucky was released in movie theaters over seven years ago and was likely written around 8ish years ago. And in the film, there is an extended gag about George R.R. Martin dragging his feet with writing and publishing the newest A Song of Ice and Fire novel: The Winds of Winter.
Fast forward to today, and the 75-year-old Martin has still yet to publish the novel, leaving fans to genuinely worry that it’ll never be released at all.
Just because The Winds of Winter is nowhere to be found does not mean that Martin isn’t writing, however, as he spends plenty of time posting on his blog, including a recent (and since-deleted) entry that detailed his issues with season two of House of the Dragon.
Before we get to Martin’s comments, from a subjective perspective, he certainly isn’t wrong to be frustrated with S2 of the series, which clearly suffered a dip in quality from S1. Nothing really happens other than Team Black trying to figure out who can ride dragons and Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower not being able to control her idiot sons.
As for Martin’s critiques of season two, they delve into specific plot points, particularly regarding the ‘Blood & Cheese’ storyline and the elimination of Aegon’s second son Maelor, so be warned that SPOILERS will follow.
George R.R. Martin has deleted his blog post
Below is the entire post:
Back in July, I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing… after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, “A Son for a Son” and “Rhaenyra the…
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) September 4, 2024
Following the publication of Martin’s blog, HBO was quick to release a statement that not oonly defended showrunner Ryan Condal but also somewhat condescendingly mansplained the sacrifices that come with adapting a novel into a TV series.
“There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO,” HBO said in a statement in response to Martin’s comments.
“Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”
House of the Dragon has been renewed by HBO for season three and season four, which will be its last.