Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin gave fans news on the House of the Dragon season 2 progress amid concerns about Hollywood strikes.
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has given fans a surprising update on the highly anticipated House of the Dragon season 2, the latest successful adaptation of his work for streaming platform Max.
Based on Martin’s 2018 work Fire & Blood and taking place within the Song of Fire & Ice universe made famous by the Game of Thrones HBO series, House of the Dragon takes audiences back 200 years in time to witness the riveting story of a succession war that started the startling fall of House Targaryen, the Dance of the Dragons. The show was a massive success and drew such a large audience that HBO Max subscribers encountered widespread crashes after the House of the Dragon premiere.
After a monumental debut, House of the Dragon was renewed for a second season almost as soon as it started, with sources pegging the summer of 2023 as the starting point for production. While many fans expected that the ongoing strike action that has ground production on virtually all projects would cause a change in plans, Martin has taken to his Not a Blog to clarify. “House of the Dragon is shot mostly in London (and a little bit in Wales, Spain, and various other locations), which is why filming has continued. The actors are members of the British union, Equity, not SAG-AFTRA, and though Equity strongly supports their American cousins (they have a big rally planned to show that support), British law forbids them from staging a sympathy strike. If they walk, they have no protection against being fired for breach of contract, or even sued.”
Martin is similarly sympathetic and involved, noting in his post, “I joined the WGA in 1986 and have been through several strikes with them. We made gains in all of them, but some issues are more important than others… and this year’s strike is the most important of my lifetime.” Martin has also dabbled in writing in other spheres, like his involvement in Elden Ring’s overarching story. He added, “No one can be certain where we go from here, but I have a bad feeling that this strike will be long and bitter. It may get as bad as the infamous 1985 strike, though I hope not,”
While fans might be relieved that House of the Dragon’s production is still on track, it’s clear that the contractually enforced lack of solidarity, in this case, might undermine the strike action, going against the author and most of the cast and crew’s wishes. This leaves fans with a potentially bittersweet premiere to look forward to. This is doubly true for the actors, who greatly enjoy working on the show and are fully invested, as seen when Paddy Considine burst into tears over his character’s fate at the end of the first season. Whether or not the strike action will be resolved by the time the season premieres remains to be seen.
Aside from a few foreign exceptions like House of the Dragon, the strike action is far-reaching, potentially affecting seemingly far-removed content like Critical Role and Dimension 20. One thing that probably won’t be affected much is Martin’s work on his long-anticipated sixth installment in the Song of Ice & Fire, with the author making steady progress on Winds of Winter, though he did specify that progress was “-not as fast as I would like… certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless. It keeps me out of trouble.”
