Warning! The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 and Fire & Blood, the show’s source material.
Fire & Blood Author George RR Martin reveals that he has complaints with House of the Dragon Showrunner Ryan Condal on the changes to the blood and cheese sequence. The first Game of Thrones spinoff premieres in 2022 and recently returned for season 2 earlier this summer. The second outing gets off to a great start by depicting the brutal storyline of Blood and Cheese, with the two titular assassins (played by Sam C. Wilson and Mark Stobbart) breaking into King’s Landing to assassinate the young Jaehaerys (Jude Rock ). Changes from the book, however, resulted in the scene being polarizing for audiences.
In a since-deleted blog post on his Not a blog, Martin Delves into the behind-the-scenes process for House of the Dragon‘s Blood & Cheese adaptation, revealing that he had disagreements with Condal about how to draw the sequence. The differences stem from cutting out young Mellor, Helena’s (Pia Saban) other child.From the scene, which Martin felt “Weakened the sequence.” Practical and budget considerations ultimately won out, however, and Martin admits that he likes blood & cheese as it turned out. Check out excerpts from Martin’s blog below:
When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, years ago (in 2022, maybe), I argued against it, for all these reasons. But I did not argue long, or with much heat. This change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only slightly. And Ryan 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. Young children will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget being an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could.
Furthermore, Ryan assured me that we are not losing Prince Maelor, just postponing him. Queen Helena [Phia Saban] May still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. This made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and agreed to the change.
I still love the episode, and the blood and cheese sequence overall. Losing the “Helena’s Choice” beat weakened the scene, but not to any great extent. Only the book reader would even notice its absence; Viewers who have never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find these scenes heartwarming. Maelor still didn’t do anything in the scene. How can he? He was only two years old.
What Martin’s blood and cheese criticisms mean for House of the Dragon
The following contains a reference to suicide.
by and large, House of the Dragon Season 2 reviews have been positive, with critics and audiences alike praising the show. Season 2, for example, has an 83% critics score and 74% audience score Rotten tomatoes. However, the blood and cheese sequence was widely criticized on social media for Maelor’s absence and how it took away from the choice Helena makes of which of her children will be killed. Martin may be happy with the final episode, but the reception to Blood & Cheese is about the answer to later seasons of Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones Season 8 was notoriously divisive, and a broad reason for that is that it lost the complexity and nuance of earlier seasons. Season 8 isn’t pulled from Martin’s source material, though House of the Dragon Season 3 and 4 will be, however The spinoff’s Blood & Cheese sequence removes a degree of narrative complexity. This change not only affects the sequence itself, but will impact Helaena Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), and Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) storyline going forward, removing the motivation for certain key events, namely Helaena’s suicide.
Our take on House of the Dragon’s Blood and Cheese sequence
Why fire and blood readers may be disappointed
Like someone who hasn’t read Fire & BloodI found House of the Dragons blood & cheese sequence gripping and horrifying in all the best ways. When you know how the moment plays out in the book, it is not difficult to see where the criticism is coming from. Changes will always be necessary when adapting a book into another medium and, broadly, House of the Dragon was successful critically and in terms of viewership. This is a promising sign for the future of the show and Condall’s ability to like this great story in seasons of television.
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Martin’s blog does, however, raise some valid concerns, namely viz Changing events and characters in season 2 will determine which events from his book can be included in later seasons. The response to Blood and Cheese, then, may be indicative of future seasons House of the Dragon are received. While those who haven’t read the book may be thrilled with the results, those who have may be less pleased.
Source: George RR Martin