Upbringing and early career efforts Condal was born in in
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, in the United States and grew up in Hasbrouck Heights. He graduated from
Villanova University in 2001 with a
Bachelor of Accountancy degree. After college, he lived on the
East Side in
Manhattan and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for eight years, first working in marketing then shifting to advertising. While working, he submitted stories to competitions to win fellowships and grants and started placing in competitions. He was able to transfer his job to Los Angeles, where he continued writing. He eventually sold a script titled
Galahad to The Film Company in early 2008. By 2010, Condal helped rewrite a screenplay adapting the epic 17th-century English poem
Paradise Lost for
Legendary Pictures. By 2012, he was working on a film adaptation of
The Art of War by
Sun Tzu, also for Legendary, though by late 2013, screenwriter
Alex Litvak was hired to write a new approach. Also in 2012, Condal was hired by
CBS Films to write an English-language remake of the 2009 Spanish-language film
Celda 211. Condal began collaboration with
Carlton Cuse to produce for
NBC a
television pilot of the comic book series
The Sixth Gun. Condal wrote the pilot, and he and Cuse were executive producers of the pilot.
First credits: Hercules, Colony, and Rampage Condal's first official screenwriting credit, shared with
Evan Spiliotopoulos, was for the 2014 film
Hercules. Condal had written an initial script for
Paramount Pictures, and Spiliotopoulos revised the script. Meanwhile, despite the pilot for
The Sixth Gun not becoming a TV series, Condal and Carlton Cuse sought to work together again and co-created the project that would become the TV series
Colony (2016–2018). In 2014,
USA Network green-lit a television pilot. The pilot for
Colony was picked up and ultimately became a TV series co-produced by Legendary Television and Universal Cable Productions. It premiered on USA Network in January 2016.
Colony lasted for three seasons, from 2016 to 2018, and was canceled in July 2018 before the third season's finale. In 2016 before
Colony premiered, Condal and Cuse were hired to rewrite the script for the film
Rampage produced under
New Line Cinema. Later in 2016, Condal began writing a screenplay for
Warner Bros.'s perpetually-in-development remake of the 1976 science fiction film ''
Logan's Run, itself based on a book published in 1967. By early 2018, Condal created and wrote Conan
, a potential TV series adapting the character Conan the Barbarian as written by Robert E. Howard, and the series was acquired by Amazon Studios. Condal also submitted a script to Lionsgate that would reboot the Highlander
film series, a studio effort that was a decade old. Shortly after Rampage
s release in the second quarter of 2018, Lionsgate hired Condal to write a screenplay adapting the Image Comics series Analog''. In late 2022, Condal wrote
Neo Earth to be made into a film by
Brad Peyton under
Netflix. Condal also sold a pitch to Lionsgate to be directed by
Chad Stahelski. Condal's involvement with
Highlander under Lionsgate also continued, with Stahelski also attached to direct.
Creating House of the Dragon With
A Song of Ice and Fire author
George R. R. Martin, Condal created the
HBO TV series
House of the Dragon (2022 to present) that is a prequel to the TV series
Game of Thrones (2011–2019). Condal, who was familiar with
A Song of Ice and Fire, first met Martin at a book convention in 2005. By 2013, when Condal was working on
The Sixth Gun, he successfully sought a meeting with Martin, and the two developed a friendship. In late 2019, HBO ordered Condal and Martin's
House of the Dragon to be produced. Condal served as a showrunner with
Miguel Sapochnik and also served as an executive producer with Sapochnik, Martin, and Vince Gerardis. The series was nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in its
75th ceremony, with Condal among 11 producers recognized.
House of the Dragon was renewed for a second season with Condal as the sole showrunner, and the second season premiered on June 16, 2024. Condal resumed as sole showrunner for the third season. In January 2026, Martin described his relationship with Condal as "abysmal" and said his disputes over
House of the Dragon involved changes from the source material
Fire & Blood that he said affected key plot points. Martin said that, after the first season, he received early drafts, gave notes, and saw some changes made, but that "when we got into season two" Condal "basically stopped listening" to him, and Martin was later told to submit notes through HBO rather than directly to Condal. Sources said Martin and Condal's relationship worsened further during a meeting in which Condal presented his plans for season three, after which HBO asked Martin to step back from the series for a period before he was later brought back. Condal, in response to Martin's comments, pointed to a statement he had given in March 2025, saying he had tried to include Martin in the adaptation process but cited "practical issues" and his obligations to proceed. When HBO decided to adapt
Tales of Dunk and Egg to the series
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026), Condal recommended to them Ira Parker, one of the writers of
House of the Dragon, to create the series. ==Credits==