HBO boss compares network's relationship with George R.R. Martin as a difficult marriage

HBO’s boss has talked about what it’s like to work with George R.R. Martin, and it’s naturally pretty complex!

Adapting a work by a famed author is always a tricky proposition. When the author in question is known for a temper and some unique views, it’s trickier. That was HBO’s issue when they began work on Game of Thrones, adapting George R.R. Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire epic. 

It seems to have worked all right, with Thrones becoming a massive Emmy-award-winning hit that spawned a prequel House of the Dragon and more plans besides. However, there’s always been a bit of friction between HBO and Martin. Some of it is natural, with Martin clashing a bit on HBO changing the book’s plots and storylines, although he’s mostly been supportive.

The big problem is that Martin has yet to complete his Song saga. That meant the Thrones writers had to craft their own finale, which (to put it mildly) was met with a mixed reception. 

It increased with House of the Dragon as Martin famously took exception to some changes in his book plot. It led to Martin writing a blog post on what he thought went wrong with that series, which he quickly deleted, but fans kept copies of it. That's fed speculation that HBO and Martin are at odds about the future of the franchise.

In short, working with Martin can be tricky, so how does HBO handle it?

HBO Chief on the relationship with Martin

Speaking to Deadline, HBO chief Casey Bloys pretty much summed up the network’s relationship with Martin as “a rocky marriage.”

"He’s very important to me, to us. But when we put shows together, it’s like putting a marriage together. Marriages can be difficult, especially when Ryan Condal is making creative decisions and adapting work. It can be fraught. Any marriage can get rocky. I would prefer everybody get along, of course. But with the creative process, we are always going to have bumps. That’s to be expected."

Keeping diplomatic with Martin is the best move for Bloys. HBO needs Martin’s input and support for any future GOT projects, and Martin’s bad-mouthing of House resonated with fans. At the same time, Martin should realize the reality that a straight-up adaptation of his works to TV was going to be tough and there would be alterations. Again, the fact that the GOT producers had to craft their own finale because Martin hadn’t finished the books shows how there’s blame on both sides for how challenging this endeavor is. 

It does seem things have settled down between the two sides, with Martin deleting that post and being a bit more supportive of HBO. There are plans for another spin-off, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, but Bloys stated that, unlike other franchises, HBO doesn’t want to overwhelm fans with too many projects at once.

"I mean, practically speaking, you don’t want to overdo any anything. There’s no blinking green lights on any other ones. At the moment, we take our time with them, with the development, and only do them when we can serve it."

That means that a planned sequel series starring Kit Harington’s Jon Snow appears to have been canceled for now, although Bloys is hopeful it can continue. That’s why HBO still needs to stay on Martin’s good side, and fans are hopeful that the partnership can continue to provide more fun right up the alley of Game of Thrones fans. 

Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon on streaming on Max.