Ooh, drama worthy of Westeros as HBO responds to GRRM’s criticism of House of the Dragon Season 2. Yesterday Martin (George R. R. Martin – author of A Song of Ice and Fire series) posted his unhappiness at some decisions made for House of the Dragon Season 2. He also criticised some decisions that have already been made for Season 3 and even Season 4. Fans predicted it would get taken down and it was. Though if you check the related link below, I copied out the entire post from an image I grabbed for you to read at your leisure.
Now, as per Deadline‘s coverage, HBO responds.
“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,” the statement reads. “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.”
HBO Are Wrong
Okay, HB/WB/D etc, here it is. You’re wrong…
The fan base was tentative going into House of the Dragon Season 1. Mostly due to the extremely poor reception for Game of Thrones finale season. However, many fans were won over by a faithful and brilliantly written and acted opening season. The problem is those same fans have the same criticisms of Season 2 as GRRM does and perhaps even more.
I’m not necessarily blaming Ryan Condal (showrunner) but someone is making decisions and some of them seem to be coming straight from HBO. Or, straight from David Zazlav (“cut money anywhere you can minions”.) First they effectively cut a show aimed to be five seasons down to four because it’s costing too much. The they reduced the episode count from ten to eight in Season 2. They also did this right before a writers strike and didn’t delay the season to compensate.
RELATED: GRRM Posts His House Of The Dragon Critique – Then Deletes It – Here It Is
GRRM talks in his blog about budget issues, and I get that he’s a creative, he doesn’t care how much money HBO actually makes compared to how much they spend. I’m a realist. Yet, it is also worth pointing out that House of the Dragon is HBO’s biggest show and by far the most watched of all the big fantasy TV shows we have had recently. The budget is no where near what Rings of Power Season 2 has at Amazon. I’m not saying, increase the budget and damn the profits, but their remains some responsibility that lies at the executive level here.
Some of the story changes that have been made though, don’t feel related to budget. The Blood & Cheese scene for example would have cost no more or less to film more akin to the book. If someone at HBO could explain something to me, perhaps I’ll be more understanding? Why have Allicent sell her own sons up the river to protect herself, daughter and grandkids?
“the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories.”
Are we allowed to criticise then when one of those difficult choices has been botched so badly? Allicent doesn’t do any of this in the book. The plot has been added to prop up the Rhaenyra and Allicent really loving each other angle, which needs to be dropped. Ergo, our Butterfly effect takes flight once more.
What do you think as HBO responds to GRRM’s criticism of House of the Dragon Season 2? Thoughts below as always.
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