George R.R. Martin shared his dislike for a change co-creator Ryan Condal made to the ‘Blood and Cheese’ scene in Season 2 in a recent blog post (per THR). He said the adapted version had less impact and would create more problems in future seasons.
The sequence showed two hired thugs killing Jaehaerys in front of his mother. The book depicted a harsher moment with Helaena having to choose between her three children (and Jaehaerys dying), while the show reduced the number to two (excluding the two-year-old Maelor).
“I still believe the scene in the book is stronger,” Martin wrote. “The readers have the right to that. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in ‘FIRE & BLOOD.’”
He continued, “I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewelry is just not the same… As I saw it, the ‘Sophie’s Choice’ aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments online, most of the fans seemed to agree.”
Martin also pointed out that cutting out Aegon and Helaena’s third child from the show would impact its final two seasons. He mentioned that some parts of the book might also have to be removed from the spinoff but deleted the post a few hours after publishing it.
HBO then responded to the author’s criticism with the following statement: “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. 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.”
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 concluded on August 4. The cast featured Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Eve Best, and Olivia Cooke.
