George R.R. Martin Slams Writers Adapting His Books: “They Do Not Improve It”

Author George R.R. Martin has taken another shot at screenwriters and adaptations in the midst of his apparent feud with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. Martin criticized the show on his blog after Season 2 concluded, and Condal recently confirmed that he and Martin are not working together closely anymore. Last month, Martin joined fellow author Joe Abercrombie for a speaking event on his book tour promoting The Devils. The new novel is already getting a movie adaptation, but Martin warned Abercrombie that translating from the page to screen can be a painful process. This follows a heated blog post from Martin about his long-awaited book, The Winds of Winter.

Once again, Martin complained that screenwriters are given too much creative freedom when hired for an adaptation, and all have the intention of “making it their own” in some way. “In most of the cases where a Hollywood screenwriter makes something their own, they don’t improve it,” Martin said in a video from the event published by YouTuber Becca Monet. “I think the majority of cases it’s the opposite.”

Martin warned Abercrombie that the worst part of having books adapted is “dealing with the other writers,” though their circumstances are very different. Abercrombie will be co-writing the film adaptation of The Devils with James Cameron, who acquired the rights to the book for his own production company. Abercrombie’s First Law series has never made it as far as a series adaptation, though many fans want it to.

[RELATED: Game of Thrones Author’s Critiques of House of the Dragon: A Complete Timeline]

As for Martin, fans have been surprised at how critical he has been of House of the Dragon considering how much more circumspect he was about Game of Thrones. The adaptation of Martin’s magnum opus, A Song of Ice and Fire, was widely criticized for its abbreviated, lackluster ending, and much of the vitriol was aimed straight at the showrunners and writers. Martin has complained about some specific changes made during the show, but never in the general way he went after House of the Dragon last year.

Martin made a now-infamous blog post about Season 2 titled “Beware the Butterflies,” which was deleted within hours of posting. In it, he explained the potential “butterfly effect” of making changes to his story, following the ripple effect of one particular change as an example. However, the post made it clear that there were other changes he was not happy about, and that this was just one he felt he could discuss at length. The post was full of spoilers, and using context clues along with Martin’s source material, fans extrapolated many other issues he might be having.

Condal finally responded to all these critiques in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in March. “I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process,” he said. “…But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way. And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time.”

As always, this discourse is tainted with fans’ frustration at the years-long delay for Martin’s next book, The Winds of Winter, and the eventual completion of A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin lashed out at online commenters about that recently as well. There’s no word on when that book might be coming, but the series up to this point is available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.