George R.R. Martin, the creator of the Game of Thrones universe, is airing his grievances against the spinoff series House of the Dragon.
In a blog post last month, the author told fans that he was going to address what he felt went “wrong” with the HBO show’s second season. On Wednesday (September 4), he did just that in a since-deleted post.
Chiefly, he called out one plot point that strayed from his source material, saying that the change could create a larger problem moving into the final two seasons.
His message prompted a response from HBO.
The change that George took issue with happened early in the second season with the elimination of one of Aegon and Helaena’s children, which affected the “Blood & Cheese” story line.
“When Ryan Condal [showrunner] first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons,” he recalled, via Variety. “I did not argue long, or with much heat, however.”
He continued, saying, “The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could.”
George noted that Ryan child would make an appearance at a later Moreover, Ryan assured me that the character, named Prince Maelor, would make a belated appearance in the show, which “made sense” to him.
He said that he ultimately agreed to the change and said that he “love[d] the episode” even though it felt “weaken[ed].”
“There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however,” he said.
Chiefly, he explained how it could impact future stories: “Maelor by himself means little,” he said. “He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter. Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their ‘murdered’ queen.”
“None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner,” he said.
George opined that “there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…”
In a statement shared with the outlet, a spokesperson for HBO noted that everyone on the House of the Dragon team are huge fans of the source material.
“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,” they said.