UPDATED, 1:31 PM: HBO has released a statement in response to George R.R. Martin’s latest — and now deleted — blog post about the creative decisions that were made in season 2 of House of the Dragon.
“There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO,” the statement reads. “Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”
Showrunner Ryan Condal also addressed the challenge of adapting Fire & Blood for the small screen on the latest installment of the Official Game of Thrones podcast. He called Martin’s tome a “history book” that doesn’t necessarily come with fully fleshed-out moments or characters.
“As dramatists, I think we have to approach this history, though it is fictional, as anyone would do, as trying to adapt a chapter from real history,” Condal said. “So we have to construct this three-dimensional reality and this full story for the world to inhabit and provide the characters with internal lives and flaws and desires that might not necessarily have made it into the historical account. Now there are plenty of opportunities in reading Fire & Blood to say, well, there was actually a flaw or a desire or something that does not make it into the record, but it’s often an incomplete picture. So really a lot of what we do is, as dramatists and adapters of this is coloring in the lines that we’re given … and a lot of that color is ultimately our own.”
PREVIOUSLY: George R.R. Martin has followed through with his promise to share his thoughts about the making of season 2 of The House of the Dragon.
On Aug. 30, Martin teased that he planned to write “about everything that’s gone wrong with House of the Dragon.” The natural assumption was that he was going to weigh in on the less-than-stellar finale that ended up not including the much anticipated Battle of the Gullet between the Blacks and Greens.
Instead, it was about Ryan Condal’s decision to omit a character that was key in Martin’s Fire & Blood and how that will likely impact the story going forward. (Condal has confirmed the show will end after season 4).
“I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese and Maelor the Missing after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, A Son for a Son and Rhaenyra the Cruel,” he wrote on his blog. “Those were terrific episodes: well written, well directed, powerfully acted. A great way to kick off the new season. Fans and critics alike seemed to agree. There was only one aspect of the episodes that drew significant criticism: the handling of Blood and Cheese, and the death of Prince Jaehaerys. From the commentary I saw on line, opinion was split there. The readers of Fire & Blood found the sequence underwhelming, a disappointment, watered down from what they were expecting. Viewers who had not read the book had no such problems. Most of them found the sequence a real gut-punch, tragic, horrifying, nightmarish, etc. Some reported being reduced to tears. I found myself agreeing with both sides.”
He then goes on to point out differences between his tome and the show. “In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two. When Blood and Cheese break in on Helaena and the kids, they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son. As Helaena has two sons, however, they demand that she choose which one should die. She resists and offers her own life instead, but the killers insist it has to be a son. If she does not name one, they will kill all three of the children. To save the life of the twins, Helaena names Maelor. But Blood kills the older boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead. Whether the boy is old enough to understand that is not at all certain.”
“That’s not how it happens on the show,” he continues. “There is no Maelor in House of the Dragon, only the twins … both of whom look younger than six, but I am no sure judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they are supposed to be. Blood can’t seem to tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is the boy. You would think a glance up his PJs would reveal that, without involving the mother). Instead of offering her own life to save the kids, Helaena offers them a necklace. Blood and Cheese are not tempted. Blood saws Prince Jaehaerys’s head off. We are spared the sight of that; a sound effect suffices.”
His verdict? Quel surprise, he thinks his version is better. “I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that,” Martin wrote. “The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in Fire & Blood.”
He goes on to explain how the character omission could impact future seasons.