House of the Dragon season 3: Impact of author’s comments

Suffice it to say, the past 36 hours within the House of the Dragon community have proven to be pretty memorable — but not exactly for the best of reasons.

If you missed out on some of the news, George R.R. Martin published, and then deleted, a blog post in which she chided the HBO show for some decision-making in season 2, most notably some of the changes during the saga of Blood and Cheese. It was an event that was still gruesome on television, but not as much so as in the book Fire & Blood. Most importantly, a significant character was omitted from the show in Aegon and Helaena’s youngest son Maelor; that change fundamentally alters what happens in the scene, and there is an enormous butterfly effect that carries into a big story down the road. This will shape Helaena in particular moving forward, but we hesitate to say too much more here.

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So what makes this entire situation with Martin complicated is that in said blog post, he basically gave away a major plot point for the third season. Is this going to change now that it’s out there? Hardly, as these episodes are prepared far in advance and book readers likely assumed that such an event regarding Helaena would be coming regardless. We tend to think that if you are HBO now, you are likely doing little more other than repeat the statement you already sent out. You can be grateful for Martin for providing the basis of the story, but also frustrated with some of his comments — especially since he is credited as an executive producer.

While we do not think that Martin speaking out directly impacts what you see on House of the Dragon the rest of the way, it is fair to wonder this: Will he be as quick to speak out moving forward? Or, is the discourse surrounding an already-polarizing season 2 about to be even more negative?

Related – See more of what HBO had to say about House of the Dragon season 2 and Martin’s comments

Do you think that there is going to be further blowback on House of the Dragon season 3 because of Martin’s criticisms?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to come back — there are other updates coming up soon.

This article was written by Jessica BunBun.