When questioned about the alterations made to the characters, the creator of the drama show House Of The Dragon, Ryan Condal, has explicitly stated that he, along with Miguel Shapochnik, was definitely not in the favour of watching “another bunch of white people on the screen.”
House Of The Dragon, created as the prequel to the iconic fantasy and drama show Games Of Thrones has been flying in the media due to the deliberate changes made to the origin of the characters of the books by the show creators in order to include as many people of color as they possibly could.
Related: House Of The Dragon: HBO Reveals New Teaser, Shows Dark Ending
Ryan Condal On Inclusivity Of ‘The House Of The Dragon’ Characters
House Velaryon is the medieval family introduced in this spin-off series. according to the books, the Velaryons were portrayed as pale-skinned, silver-haired, and purple-eyed ancients who date back to the silver-haired Dragonriders.
However, since Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik were adamant about making continuous attempts in order to be more and more inclusive with the casting, they made the decision to modify the physical characteristics of the characters. to do so, they altered the origins of the characters from an ancient medieval white family to a House of Black Seafarers who also happened to be, apart from the Crown, the wealthiest family in Westeros.
What Led To The Decision To Change Character Origins?
According to Ryan Condal, the talk of this change began with none other than the writer and creator of Game Of Thrones, George R. R. Martin himself. Ryan Condal recalled that the original concept of House Of Dragon had always remained in the same historical period—the one that took place around the time of the civil war amongst The Targaryens for the succession of the Throne (also widely known as The Dance Of The Dragons)—where this house played an important role.
Surprisingly, even Martin had considered making the Velaryons a family of nobles with Black origins.
“While he was conceiving the idea of this world, Martin himself had openly considered the idea of making the race of the Velaryons of Black origins with Silver hair that came from the other side of the ocean.” Explained Martin. “Since the imagery of this description is so contrasting and stark, it fascinated me when I was offered the development of this project.”
Conclusively, it is fairly great to see that all of the struggles for the better representation of people of color are paying off. The fact this initiative was taken to display a more inclusive cast, especially in a show that has such a wide and diverse audience, speaks volumes that representation truly matters.
House of the Dragon is set to premiere on August 21, 2022, on HBO.
