George R.R. Martin found himself disappointed with changes made in “House of the Dragon” Season 2 and worries about the butterfly effect of them going forward.
Chiefly, the “Game of Thrones” and “Fire & Blood” author lamented the changes to the infamous Blood and Cheese scene that played out in the Season 2 premiere on his blog. In the episode, a former Kingsguard and a ratcatcher sneak into the Red Keep to take a son for a son in payment for the death of Prince Luke. They find Helaena (Phia Saban) with her and Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) twins and force her to reveal which is the prince and the king’s heir. After pleading, she eventually caves and the pair remove the child’s head – off camera.
In the books, the assassins find the queen not just with her twins but also with her younger son Maelor. Cheese makes Helaena pick which of her two sons – the heir to the throne or the younger boy – will die. After attempting to offer her own life, she reluctantly chooses the younger Maelor. Cheese makes sure to tell Maelor his mom picked him to die before he has Blood kill the other boy anyway.
Martin thought his moment had more heft than what appeared on the HBO show.
“As I saw it, the ‘Sophie’s Choice’ aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral,” Martin wrote Wednesday. “I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments online, most of the fans seemed to agree.”
The author added that he protested with showrunner Ryan Condal about the changes, but eventually relented.
“When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons,” he said. “I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. 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. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in Season 3, presumably after getting with child late in Season 2. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.”
Now, Martin is worried about the possible butterfly effect of not having Maelor in the show. He admits many tweaks could be minor, but the possibility for them to snowball feels real. The author then ominously says more changes being pitched for the upcoming seasons could create even more issues.
“And 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…” he warned.
HBO responded to Martin’s blog post Tuesday, standing by Condal’s creative choices in Season 2.
“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. 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,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement. “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.”
Martin wasn’t wholly negative about Season 2. After the big midseason episode “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” he took to his blog to praise one of the finest dragon battles ever put to screen.
“Has there ever been a dragon battle to match it?” he asked. “I seem to recall that ‘Reign of Fire’ had a few scenes where a dozen dragons were wheeling through the skies. So, OK, maybe that was a bigger scene, with more dragons on screen … but a better battle? I don’t think so. Our guys knocked this one out of the castle.”
Season 3 of “House of the Dragon” is still likely a few years out. Perhaps Martin’s criticisms will be a bit more heard.
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