George R.R. Martin was against the change in Blood and Cheese scene in House of the Dragon

The season premiere of House of the Dragon introduced the much-awaited and feared Blood and Cheese arc from George R. R. Martin’s Fire and Blood. The adaptation has elicited mixed reactions from fans due to its significant deviations from the original material. And it seems like even George R. R. Martin wasn’t on board with it.

George R. R. Martin wasn’t in favor of removing Helaena’s choice

One of the key criticisms of the Blood and Cheese scene was how different it was from the book. In the book, instead of Blood and Cheese going straightaway for Jaehaerys, they give Helaena a choice. Martin wrote on his blog, Not A Blog, in a now-deleted post:

“As I saw it, the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.

When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit.”

George R. R. Martin confirms absence of Maelor from House of the Dragon

Martin also went on to confirm Maelor was completely removed from the storyline of House of the Dragon, “Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.”

“Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.”

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