HBO reacts to George RR Martin's now-deleted critique of 'HotD'
HBO has issued a statement defending the creative decisions made in Season 2 of House of the Dragon, following criticism from author George RR Martin. The network stated, "There are few greater fans of George RR Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO." They emphasized that adapting a book for screen often requires difficult choices about characters and storylines.
Showrunner Ryan Condal addressed challenges of adaptation
Showrunner Ryan Condal also spoke about the challenges of adapting Fire & Blood for television on the Official Game of Thrones podcast. He described Martin's book as a "history book" that doesn't always provide fully developed moments or characters. "As dramatists, I think we have to approach this history, though it is fictional...So we have to construct this three-dimensional reality and this full story for the world to inhabit," he said.
Condal explained the necessity of 'compromises' in storytelling
Condal further explained that some compromises were necessary in telling the story, particularly when it came to omitting the character Maelor. He stated, "The casualty in that was that our young children in this show are very young. Very, very young." "Because we compress that timeline...And people, people look at that stuff. And particularly with a show like this, they look at it very closely."
Martin's critique focused on character omission and storyline impact
Earlier, Martin had expressed his concerns about making Season 2 of House of the Dragon. His critique in the now-deleted blogpost primarily focused on Condal's decision to exclude a character from Martin's Fire & Blood, which he believes will significantly affect the story in the future. "I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese and Maelor the Missing after my commentary on the first two episodes," he wrote on his blog.
Martin highlighted differences between his book and the show
Martin further highlighted the differences between his book and the show. "In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two," he wrote on his blog. Despite these discrepancies, Martin acknowledged that both readers of Fire & Blood and viewers of House of the Dragon had differing opinions on the sequence involving Blood and Cheese.
