Were you a smidge disappointed by House of the Dragon Season 2?
Well, you’re certainly not flying those skies alone.
In fact, the hirsute, chronically suspendered genius/procrastinator who created the world of Westeros is calling the show out for making “misguided” changes to storylines originally found in his 2018 book Fire & Blood.
In a new blog post, author and House of the Dragon executive producer George R.R. Martin revealed that he was not pleased with some of the changes in the show’s second season.
Specifically, like many other viewers, he took issue with the execution (no pun intended) of the infamous “Blood and Cheese” sequence.
Martin says he discussed the changes with co-EP Ryan Condal and now wishes that he’d insisted on sticking with his original vision.
Condal chose to eliminate a young character, Prince Maelor, who would barely have seen any screen time before being coldly dispatched by two hired goons.
Still, Martin believes that Maelor’s absence has diminished the story’s emotional impact.
“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,” Martin wrote.
“I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit.”
Having collaborated with showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff throughout all eight seasons of Game of Thrones, Martin is obviously familiar with the demands of TV budgets and production schedules.
And while he acknowledges that certain changes must be made, he seems to believe that Condal diverged too far the story’s original path.
“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,” Martin recalled in his blog post.
“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.
“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,” the author continued.
“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.”
Martin concluded his message with a portent of doom worthy of a Westerosi soothsayer, writing:
“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.”
It’s uncommon for one EP to second-guess another so publicly.
And Martin never shaded Weiss and Benioff in such a manner during GoT’s historic run.
Condal seemed to anticipate this criticism when he admitted during a recent podcast interview that he was forced to “make some compromises in rendering the story.”
Even so, he was probably caught off guard by the bluntness of Martin’s latest musings.
Meanwhile, GoT fans just wish the bearded steamboat-captain’s-hat enthusiast would focus some of this energy on completing his long-(long-, long-)awaited Winds of Winter novel!