George RR Martin has come in for heavy criticism from House of the Dragons fans after launching into a scathing rant against the series.
*Warning: Contains spoilers for House of the Dragon.*
The fantasy novelist and TV producer, 75, wrote Fire and Blood – the fictional House Targaryen history book upon which the Game of Thrones prequel show is based.
And until this week, Martin appeared to be happily working in collaboration with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal as his book was adapted for TV.
But now the pair seem to have had a major disagreement, with Martin taking to his blog on Wednesday night to condemn adaptive changes made by the show.
What has George RR Martin said about House of the Dragon?
In the lengthy rant, Martin referred to ‘toxic butterflies’ – a term he used to describe minor adaptive changes which could have huge consequences in future episodes.
He signed off by saying: ‘There are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated [for future seasons].’
Before that, he had also criticised the decision by Condal, 45, to make changes to a pivotal scene in the season two premiere, which saw the circumstances of a character’s death altered for TV.
While the author said the premiere was a ‘great way to kick off the new season’ overall, and understood that were were ‘practical’ reasons for certain changes, he also said he agreed with people who called the scene ‘underwhelming, a disappointment, and watered down’.
In the same blog post, Martin also appeared to give away crucial plot details for season three of House of the Dragon, indicating that another character’s death happens ‘for no particular reason’.
The show’s loyal fanbase have been shocked by these unexpected turn of events, with Martin’s post being described as ‘unprofessional’ by fantasy fans.
On Twitter, @Gatx_Negrx said: ‘Martin doing that blog post was deeply unprofessional. I hope someone roasts his a** in public because as executive producer, your job is to support the art and the thousands of people coming together to bring it to life.’
@JohnWebsterFilm added: ‘I’m done with [Martin] … That piece of writing was incredibly unprofessional and will only feed the toxicity in the fandom. I’m done.’
Meanwhile, @Nastass2 commented: ‘Y’all keep caping for a man who’s the executive producer on the show. Who made coin by selling rights. Who is a novelist, not a screenwriter.’ They added that they had ‘zero respect’ for Martin’s complaints, writing: ‘Unprofessional is putting it mildly.’
Criticising Martin’s choice to reveal aspects of future episodes, @LordFleaBottom said that they found ‘spoiling’ a part of season three to be ‘unprofessional’, stating: ‘Really losing respect for George.’
As an acclaimed and experienced author who created the world of Westeros and inspired series’ such as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, Martin’s post has also been defended by some in the fandom.
@XiranJayZhao said: ‘Let me tell you guys that listening to George rant about House of the Dragon was hilarious and I can’t believe he’s going public with some of it… Ultimately everyone benefits from a better-written show, so this isn’t just random complaining.’
In response to the blog post, HBO released a statement of their own after Martin appeared to delete the blog post – the reasons behind its deletion are still unknown.
The statement said: ‘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.’
This apparent fresh dose chaos behind the scenes comes after fans accused the season two finale of being an ‘underwhelming’ build-up to the third and penultimate season.
‘Well that was the most underwhelming, slow paced, snooze fest of a season in all of the Game of Thrones franchise! Legit so disappointed!’ @MickLee93 wrote on Twitter at the time.
The finale was defended by Condal, who said: ‘We just wanted to have the time and the space to [tell the story] at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans in the way that’s deserved.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted George RR Martin for comment.
Watch House of the Dragon on SkyGo and NowTV.
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