George R.R. Martin Is Feeling (Slightly) Competitive For ‘House Of The Dragon’ To Beat Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’

George R.R. Martin isn’t a fan of his new Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, being pitted against Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series. But, if a clash has to go down, Martin hopes House of the Dragon does just a little bit better. Both shows will arrive within days of each other at the end of summer, so naturally, it didn’t take long for that to set the stage for an epic conflict that Martin would rather do without. He just wants to see good sci-fi and fantasy on TV, and he genuinely hopes both shows do well. However, Martin does admit he hopes his baby comes out slightly ahead.

The Game of Thrones author’s remarks appeared in a preview for a much longer interview with The Independent, which will arrive later this week:

“I know a lot of articles, the minute the dates were announced, it’s: ‘Oh, the battle for fantasy supremacy. It’s Rings of Power versus House of Dragon, who will win’ I don’t know why they always have to do that.”

He added: “I hope both shows succeed. I’m competitive enough. I hope we succeed more. If they win six Emmys, and I hope they do, I hope we win seven. But nonetheless, it’s good for fantasy. I love fantasy. I love science fiction. I want more shows on television.”

Despite his congenial view of the clash to come, Martin, a lifelong Tolkien fan, did have some concerns about what exactly The Rings of Power will entail given the limited rights Amazon purchased in a “weird deal.”

“They didn’t get Lord of the Rings, they didn’t get The Hobbit, they didn’t even get The Silmarillion,” Martin told The Independent. “I don’t think they got Farmer Giles of Ham or Leaf by Niggle, but they got the appendices, I guess, and they’re constructing a Second Age story about that. There’s a lot of myth about that, so it’ll be interesting to see what they did.”

House of the Dragon premieres August 21 on HBO followed by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on September 2 on Amazon.