George R.R. Martin Gives ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Update Amid Strikes
Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has provided an update on House of the Dragon‘s second season in light of the ongoing writers and actors strikes.
In his most recent blog post, Martin touched on the Writers Guild of America strike, calling it “the most important” of his lifetime. “No one can be certain where we go from here, but I have a bad feeling that this strike will be long and bitter,” he said. “It may get as bad as the infamous 1985 strike, though I hope not.”
While many productions have shut down due to the strikes, HBO’s House of the Dragon is still going ahead with its second season, with Martin confirming that “all of the scripts had been finished months before the WGA strike began” and that “no writing has been done since, to the best of my knowledge.”
In addition, because the majority of the show’s cast is based in the U.K., it means that filming can still take place as scheduled.
“[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,” Martin explained. “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.”
As for Martin himself, he revealed that his “overall deal with HBO was suspended on June 1,” but he still has plenty of other work to keep him busy, including his long-awaited sixth novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter.
“These strikes are not really about name writers or producers or showrunners, most of whom are fine,” he stated. “We’re striking for the entry-level writers, the story editors, the students hoping to break in, the actor who has four lines, the guy working his first staff job who dreams of creating his own show one day, as I did back in the 80s).”
House of the Dragon, Season 2, TBA, HBO
