House of the Dragon
showrunner Ryan Condal responds to George R. R. Martin’s criticisms of season 2. Based on Martin’s Fire & Blood novel, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show premiered in 2022, chronicling the descent into war between two rival factions of House Targaryen that became known as the Dance of Dragons. Though House of the Dragon season 2 reviews were positive last summer when the sophomore outing premiered, Martin shared a now-deleted blog post after the season concluded in which he took issue with certain creative choices, particularly the decision to not include the character of Maelor.
In a recent interview with EW as production begins on House of the Dragon season 3, Condal reveals that, though he didn’t see Martin’s blog post before it was deleted, he was told about it. The showrunner calls Martin’s criticisms “disappointing,” revealing that the author was involved in the early stages of adapting Fire & Blood into a show. Condal also defends his creative choices in season 2, however, and reveals that his working relationship with Martin deteriorated when practical considerations necessitated changing aspects of the source material. Check out Condal’s full comment below:
“It was disappointing. I will simply say I’ve been a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire for almost 25 years now, and working on the show has been truly one of the great privileges of, not only my career as a writer, but my life as a fan of science-fiction and fantasy. George himself is a monument, a literary icon in addition to a personal hero of mine, and was heavily influential on me coming up as a writer.
“It’s this incomplete history and it requires a lot of joining of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way. I will simply say, I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time. But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way.
“And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time. At the end of the day, I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that’s my job. So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday. But that’s what I have to say about it.”
What This Means For House Of The Dragon
George R. R. Martin’s Season 2 Criticisms Explained
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Fire & Blood, and potentially for House of the Dragon season 3.
The following contains a brief mention of suicide.
Several big moments in Fire & Blood were hotly anticipated in House of the Dragon. The Blood and Cheese storyline, which features two assassins breaking into the Red Keep and brutally murdering the young Prince Jaehaerys, was certainly among them. One crucial aspect of the moment in the book is the inclusion of Prince Maelor, Helena’s youngest son. When the assassins offer Helena a choice of which of her sons they will kill, she chooses Maelor, seemingly because he is youngest and won’t understand what’s happening. They then kill Jaehaerys, making sure that Maelor knows his mother wanted him dead instead.
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Though Martin admitted in his post that he still “loved” the Blood and Cheese episode, despite the changes, he wrote that Maelor’s absence “weakened the sequence.” Martin also, however, acknowledged the practical reasons for the character’s absence and said that he brushed his concerns aside because he was assured the character would be introduced later. It was eventually decided, however, that Maelor not appear in the show at all due to timeline constrictions.
Martin outlined the consequences of this decision in his blog, pointing that Maelor’s inclusion in Fire & Blood paves the way for more crucial story events, namely Helena’s suicide and a tragic sequence set at Bitterbridge in which Maelor dies. Read an excerpt from Martin’s blog about the decision below:
Maelor by himself means little. 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.
What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son. Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.
It’s Too Early To Tell How Damaging Maelor’s Absence Will Be
Adapting any story from one medium into another will require changes, and this is especially true when the source material is a sprawling tale that reads somewhat like a history text. Budget considerations likely drive many House of the Dragon story decisions, and it’s clear that Condal is attempting to thread the needle in a way, hitting key events while working within the practical limitations he’s been given.
Martin’s criticisms, however, are also understandable, and those familiar with Fire & Blood may end up being disappointed in the ramifications of Maelor’s absence. In any case, House of the Dragon season 3 isn’t out yet, meaning it’s still too early to judge whether Maelor’s removal from the story will significantly hurt the rest of the show’s version of the story.
Source: EW
House of the Dragon
8/10
- Release Date
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August 21, 2022
- Network
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HBO Max
- Directors
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Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Alan Taylor, Greg Yaitanes, Geeta Vasant Patel, Andrij Parekh
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Emma D’Arcy
Alicent Hightower
