Yahoo News House Of The Dragon showrunner explains major change from book to show
The dance of the dragons has begun, as season two of House of the Dragon has finally arrived. Now, the series showrunner has explained one major change made from the book to the TV show.
The highly-anticipated second season of the Game of Thrones prequel arrived on 17th June, and it’s time to get ready for more battles and bloodshed than ever before as House Targaryen begin a brutal civil war.
The first episode of season two ended with a shocking murder scene, and now, showrunner Ryan Condal has explained why they made some big changes to the scene from the books. Read on to find out more, House of the Dragon fans!
So, to catch you up, season one ended with Rhaenyra’s second son, Lucerys Velaryon, being killed by his nephew and Viserys and Alicent’s second son, Aemond, which sparks the civil war dubbed Dance of the Dragons.
Then, season two begins shortly after Aemond killed Lucerys and ends with the assassin’s Daemon hired, nicknamed Blood and Cheese, murdering then decapitating Aegon and Helaena’s first-born and six-year-old son, Jaehaerys.
It was a pretty rough watch, but readers of the books by George R. R. Martin will know that the scene was even more brutal in the books with most of the bloody action happening for viewers to see.
Speaking to Variety, showrunner Ryan Condal explained that the scene was changed because the children are “younger in this part of the narrative than they were in the original book," with Aegon and Helaena’s son, Maelor, not being born yet in the series.
Describing the scene, Ryan continued, “When he says to her, ‘You tell me the right one, or I’m gonna do terrible things to your children,’ she believes him. She’s like, I can’t mess this up, I need to be completely honest. And I think it’s actually more heartbreaking that she’s honest."
this scene literally brought me chills. the sound of them cutting jaeherys’ head and helaena running away in a daze was just so eerie https://t.co/XSr8BSkABM
— calypso (@caraxiss) June 17, 2024
On why he chose for the decapitation to happen off-screen, he added, "We knew it would be horrifying and brutal, we didn’t want it to be gratuitous or over the top. Yes, it’s a little child, and it’s awful. But because we don’t know Jaehaerys as a point-of-view character, it made more sense to experience that terrible event through Helaena’s eyes."
"You instinctually know what’s happening off screen, but I think it’s the emotional grip of experiencing that through Helaena’s eyes that really gets me still, and I’ve seen it 100 times," he concluded.
God, it’s brutal out here!
House of the Dragon is streaming on NOW TV
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