George R.R. Martin Reveals ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 and 4 Prep Is Underway, Calls Season 2 Episodes ‘Powerful’ and ‘Gut-Wrenching’

variety.com:

Ethan Shanfeld Apparently still hard at work on the sixth “Song of Ice and Fire” novel “The Winds of Winter,” George R.R. Martin took to his blog to recap his recent trip to London, which included meeting his book publisher, the team behind his Westeros-set stage adaptation and the writers of “House of the Dragon,” who screened the first two episodes of Season 2 for the “Game of Thrones” author. “The highlight of the trip … had to be the sneak preview that [showrunner] Ryan [Condal] gave me of the first two episodes of ‘House of the Dragon,’ Season 2. (Rough cuts, of course),” Martin wrote in a Dec.

6 blog post. “Of course, I am hardly objective when talking about anything based on my own work… but I have to say, I thought both episodes were just great. (And they are not even finished yet.) Dark, mind you.

Very dark. They may make you cry. (I did not cry myself, but one of my friends did.) Powerful, emotional, gut-wrenching, heart rending.

Just the sort of thing I like. (What can I say? I was weaned on Shakespeare, and love the tragedies and history plays best of all.)” Martin didn’t just get to preview the first two episodes of Season 2, which released a trailer earlier this week and is dated for early summer 2024.