House of the Dragon Could Have Started Much Earlier

If you concentrate on it, the whole first season of House of the Dragon—all 10 episodes—is mainly the prologue to the Targaryen civil conflict that begins with the ultimate shot of the finale. It’s a narrative that has already spanned a long time and, if creator George R.R. Martin had his approach, would have been even longer. Much longer.

If you’ll recall, the present begins with King Jaehaerys naming his grandson Viserys, the son of his second son Baelon, as his inheritor as a substitute of Rhaenys, the eldest daughter of his first son and supposed inheritor Aemon. From that second till the tip of the tenth episode, round 26 years move (no less than in accordance with the ebook canon), courtesy of not one, not two, however three timejumps.

In a prolonged new video interview along with his writer, Penguin Random House, Martin mentioned there was a substantial amount of dialogue within the author’s room about the place the present ought to start, with one chance being Viserys’ demise, which ended up occurring on the finish of the eighth episode. Martin’s thought was to begin the present earlier than leads Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower had been even born:

“I would have began it like 40 years earlier with the episode I would have called ‘The Heir and the Spare,’ in which Jaehaerys’s two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive. 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?”

Martin admits “I was the only one who was really enthused” in regards to the thought, which might have necessitated extra timejumps and certain extra a number of castings. Some individuals appeared to have sufficient hassle wrapping their heads round Milly Alcock rising into Emma D’Arcy and her children going from adolescents to teenagers in-between episodes, so this positively labored out for one of the best.

Honestly, although, I get it. He meticulously crafted the centuries of Targaryen royal historical past to create the backdrop for A Song of Ice and Fire. Why wouldn’t he need to see all of it onscreen? But for the needs of the present, I feel masking 20 years in 10 episodes was nearly all we wanted to understand how pointless, messy, and brutal this conflict for the Iron Throne goes to be.

[Via Uproxx]

Want extra io9 information? Check out when to count on the newest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and every little thing you must find out about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.