Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin took to his personal blog to write about his unhappiness with House of the Dragon season 2 as well as concerns for season 3, before swiftly deleting the post.
"I argued against it, for all these reasons," Martin wrote, detailing the 'Sophie's Choice' scene in Blood and Cheese involving Maelor's death (via The Hollywood Reporter. ) "I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And [showrunner 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. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on House of the Dragon, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him ... That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change."
Martin went on to explain his concern for Maelor's absence across the next two seasons, which seems small in the grand scheme of things, but will have a snowball effect as the show continues. The show was greenlit for a third and fourth season, and will subsequently end on the fourth according to Condal.
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"Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe… but I don’t see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it … From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better … Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter."
The author ended on a rather ominous note: "And 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…"
As previously stated, Martin didn't leave the blog up for long, and although we might never know the reason it got taken down, it's safe to say HBO probably wasn't happy about the author providing the main story for one of its biggest TV shows blasting its creative decisions publicly.
House of the Dragon season 2 is streaming now on Max while we wait for House of the Dragon season 3. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2024 and beyond.
