George R.R. Martin slams 'House of the Dragon,' warns of 'more toxic' changes
MANILA, Philippines — "A Song of Ice and Fire" author George R.R. Martin called out the changes made to the latest season of HBO's "House of the Dragon."
"House of the Dragon" is based on Martin's "Fire and Blood," which chronicles the Targaryen dynasty of Westeros, specifically the Dance of the Dragons that sees the ruling family in a power struggle.
In a post titled "Beware the Butterflies" on his blog, which he has since deleted, Martin enumerated his grievances with the changes the show made.
Primary among his concerns was the exclusion of the character Prince Maelor. Martin, a co-creator and executive producer for "House of the Dragon," claimed the decision will affect the series' final two seasons.
In the books, Maelor is the youngest son of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney and Phia Saban). He plays a big role in the Blood and Cheese moment, which figures in the Season 2 premiere.
Instead, the show only sees Aegon and Helaena having twins Jaehaera and Jaehaerys, one of which is killed by Blood and Cheese.
"The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan [Condal] 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 said. "Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications."
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Martin noted that budget was already an issue for the show but Condal assured him Maelor would appear in a later season. The popular author, however, reiterated that he still enjoyed the Blood and Cheese moment in the latest season.
With some minor spoilers, Martin pointed out the exclusion of Maelor affects the Sack of Bitterbridge and Helaena's potential suicide.
"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…" Martin ended his deleted post.
A spokesperson for HBO responded to Martin's comments, assuring that the show's creative team was among the biggest fans of the author and his work.
In a statement, HBO said showrunners like Condal need to make difficult choices about characters and storylines when adapting books for the screen.
"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," the statement ended.
It can be recalled that David Benioff and Dan Weiss considered taking out the youngest Stark child, Rickon, from the original show "Game of Thrones" but Martin convinced the duo to keep him.
Martin is heavily involved in another "Game of Thrones" prequel, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," while "House of the Dragon" prepares production for its final two seasons.
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