HBO
George R.R. Martin deletes blog post criticizing ‘House of the Dragon,’ and HBO issues statement
The network has defended showrunner Ryan Condal and reminded that the format has its own rules and limitations.
It all began with a rumor on Reddit. A user revealed that George R.R. Martin was unhappy with some aspects of the second season of ‘House of the Dragon’ and was planning to write a post about it on his personal blog. Shortly thereafter, the A Song of Ice and Fire author confirmed that he would be posting his thoughts on everything that went wrong with the HBO series. Said and done: the author and screenwriter has railed against the changes made by showrunner Ryan Condal, but the publication has been short-lived, as it has disappeared from the website. The company owned by Warner Bros. Discovery has issued a statement in response to Martin’s accusations:
“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 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.”
What did George R.R. Martin say about ‘House of the Dragon’?
George R.R. Martin, visibly upset by the changes, has made an analogy with the movie ‘The Butterfly Effect’ and criticized the elimination of Maelor, the second son of Kings Aegon and Helena. In his words, this change will affect the development of future seasons of the series, as “change begets change”. The writer has stated that “bigger and more poisonous butterflies are coming”, words with which he anticipates new criticisms that will emerge if the series “goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4″.
The author of ‘Game of Thrones’ is one of the creators of ‘House of the Dragon’ and other projects in development at HBO. The next series in production, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, will premiere in 2025. Meanwhile, the network is working on a live-action series about King Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros.
House of the Dragon has been renewed for two more seasons.