While generally well-reviewed, the second season of House of the Dragon did have its critics—specifically Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin who has been vocal about not being pleased with some of the changes they’ve made for the show.
Just recently, Martin has posted on his blog about one of his major grievances with the series, particularly how they’ve toned down the violence of the whole Blood and Cheese incident that lead to the death of Prince Jaehaerys and the exclusion of a character from the books. He has since deleted the blog post, but now HBO has decided to release a statement.
According to Deadline, HBO said about the post:
“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.”
In Martin’s original post, he had complained about the removal of Prince Maelor, Heleana’s youngest son, and how it would mean that more key scenes from the book would be removed from the show. He then teases that there would be more ‘toxic’ changes in the series moving forward, but the blog mostly focuses on the Blood and Cheese incident and how it could ‘butterfly effect’ more crucial events down the line.
GRRM’s blog on HOTD is out, and he is NOT happy. pic.twitter.com/UILFedmIcJ
— hypatia (@actuallyhypatia) September 4, 2024
Immediately fans who had been hating on the show since Season 2 came out have used Martin’s quotes to fuel their anger at showrunner Ryan Condal for changing some elements of the story. Admittedly, there are some who thought that the series was right to tone down the child murder.
We don’t know exactly what the beef between Martin and HBO is, but as of now, it does look like they’ve somewhat silenced GRRM from cooking up any more bad faith for the series and showrunners. Either that or GRRM just wants to edit more on his original blog entry.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is expected to come out in 2026.
