“House of the Dragon” is up and running smoothly, with George R.R. Martin and the producers of the hit “Game of Thrones” spinoff now hard at work on Season 2. But the series hit a few bumps along the way, as some fans felt that the first season suffered from pacing issues. Many claimed that the decision to frequently skip forward in time and recast key characters, namely Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, needlessly complicated things.
Showrunner Ryan Condal has dismissed such criticisms, explaining that he is more than confident in his ability to make the right decisions for the franchise.
“I am still going to make choices that not all of you are going to like,” Condal recently said. “But, on the whole, I am really looking after the sanctity and wellbeing of George’s work.”
George R.R. Martin agrees with Condal, and the “Fire and Blood” author is even willing to take things a step further. Not only is he not apologizing for the time jumps, he wishes that the show had more.
In a new video interview with Penguin Random House, Martin explained that he thinks the first season could have used more time jumps (even if nobody else on the creative team agreed with him).
“I would have began it like 40 years earlier with the episode I would have called ‘The Heir and the Spare,’ in which Jaehaerys’ two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive,” Martin said. “And we see the friendship, but also the rivalry, between the two sides of the great house. You know, Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman shoots him by accident on Tarth and then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is it the daughter of the older son who’s just died or is it the second son, who has sons of his own and is a man and she’s just a teenage girl?”
He added, “You would have had 40 more years and you would have had even more time jumps and you would have even more re-castings and, yeah, I was the only one who was really enthused about that.”
Showrunner Ryan Condal has dismissed such criticisms, explaining that he is more than confident in his ability to make the right decisions for the franchise.
“I am still going to make choices that not all of you are going to like,” Condal recently said. “But, on the whole, I am really looking after the sanctity and wellbeing of George’s work.”
George R.R. Martin agrees with Condal, and the “Fire and Blood” author is even willing to take things a step further. Not only is he not apologizing for the time jumps, he wishes that the show had more.
In a new video interview with Penguin Random House, Martin explained that he thinks the first season could have used more time jumps (even if nobody else on the creative team agreed with him).
“I would have began it like 40 years earlier with the episode I would have called ‘The Heir and the Spare,’ in which Jaehaerys’ two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive,” Martin said. “And we see the friendship, but also the rivalry, between the two sides of the great house. You know, Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman shoots him by accident on Tarth and then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is it the daughter of the older son who’s just died or is it the second son, who has sons of his own and is a man and she’s just a teenage girl?”
He added, “You would have had 40 more years and you would have had even more time jumps and you would have even more re-castings and, yeah, I was the only one who was really enthused about that.”