House of the Dragon season three trailer released weeks after George R. R. Martin slams show

George R. R. Martin spoke out about his 'abysmal' relationship with the showrunner of House of the Dragon just a few weeks ago, and now the series has released a trailer for season three as the show is embroiled in the most controversy it has faced since it was greenlit.

House of the Dragon tells the story of the Targaryen family 100s of years before Game of Thrones, based on a 2018

George R. R. Martin prequel book. Starring Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, and Matt Smith, the first season of the TV show was met with stellar reviews.

Season two, despite some viral moments and single episodes that were highly reviewed, was less well received however, leading many to question what had changed.

One of the major answers to this appears to be the significantly reduced role of George R. R. Martin, who stated in a profile piece done on him that the show was ‘not [his] story any longer’.

George R. R. Martin’s criticisms of House of the Dragon

Martin had pretty public criticism of the show's third season (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, Martin said that: “I hired Ryan [Condal, the series’ showrunner] I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all through the first season.

“I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought."

He went on to add “We got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me.

“I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn't doing it. Other times, he would tell me, 'Oh, OK, yeah, I'll think about that’.”

The author revealed that, when Condal laid out his vision for season three the pair had a huge disagreement. In addition to this, in 2024 Martin published an essay on the show, which he said was ‘80% praise’, but included criticism of ‘toxic changes’ set to come from the books. Martin’s assistant reportedly took down the blog post whilst he was sleeping after prompting from HBO.

The first trailer is released for season three of the Game of Thrones prequel

The third season looks to show a civil war between Alicent and Rhaenyra's respective sides of the families.

The trailer may come off the back of Martin’s critiques of the series, but it also comes shortly after the major success of the latest Game of Thrones spin—off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Coming with a tagline ‘From Fire Comes Darkness’, season three of the show is set to be the penultimate of the series as season four will be the conclusion of the story.

Reaction to the trailer online has been mixed, with one popular comment on YouTube saying: “I really hope they deliver this season. Last season was definitely a mixed bag for me.”

A second comment said: “Keep expectations in the dirt so as not to get disappointed.”

A third however was more hopeful, but acknowledged the controversies, saying: “Teaser looks amazing, packed with action. Please lets go back to quality of S1. Respect the original written works. Respect GRRM!!!”

House of the Dragon season three releases in June.