HBO responds to George R.R. Martin’s blog post criticizing changes made to House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon Season 2 has garnered a more subdued reception compared to its debut season, largely due to significant deviations from George R. R. Martin’s book, Fire & Blood, which Martin has openly criticized. Even though he and the fans have a good reason to be mad about it, HBO stands firm in their decisions with the Game of Thrones prequel.

HBO responds to George R.R. Martin’s complaints about plot deviations

Yesterday, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin went on a rant about everything that was wrong with the Blood & Cheese sequence. HBO has recently responded to the claims via Variety:

“There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO. Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”

George R. R. Martin hinted at major deviations if HBO followed current plans

In a post that is now deleted on his blog, Not A Blog, Martin expressed his discontent with the plot changes in the show, going into detail about everything that went wrong with the Blood & Cheee incident. He said:

“What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son. Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.

Read More: Ryan Condal doesn’t think Blood and Cheese episode is like the Red Wedding