House of the Dragon first season gave a lot of fans what they had been looking for. The ten-episode series had been tremendously spread out, being just a prequel to a war that the story is set on. The Targaryen Civil War is what the audience is yearning to see. The first season of the show ended with the death of King Viserys, who before his death, named Rhaenyra as his heir to the House of Targaryen.
However, if it had been up to the writer, George R.R. Martin, the show would have stretched much longer, instead of his vision of a four-season series.
George R.R. Martin Wanted House Of The Dragon To Begin Much Earlier
The pilot episode of House of the Dragon sees King Jaehaerys in a dilemma about who his heir should be. After the death of his son, it would likely have been seen for him to name Rhaenys, his daughter, as the new heir; however, King Jaehaerys went on to name his grandson, Viserys as his heir to the throne. The entire first season sees the evolution of Viserys’ children and their rivalry as the question of who gets the Targaryen throne gets raised.
The finale of the first season sees the King name Rhaenyra as his heir, and the new Queen to the House of Targaryen, igniting an already brewing Civil War. The show also happens to see over three time jumps in a span of eight episodes, defining a gap of around twenty years canonically for the characters.
Although George R.R. Martin, in an interview had stated how he would have liked to show the relationship between King Jaehaerys’ children and their friendship that had hints of rivalry. Approximately forty years prior to the pilot episode of the show.
House Of The Dragon’s Time Jumps Were Perfectly Balanced As Compared To What George R.R. Martin Wanted
Fans had already been confused watching Rhaenyra’s children grow midway through episodes and the lead to be played by multiple actors throughout the season, finally being played by Emma D’Arcy. The story had since then been spread across as only a prequel to the major storyline of the books. While the Targaryen Civil War remains imminent and would be shown in the upcoming seasons; Martin’s wish to see more backstory would have only led to further time jumps.
The author stated in an interview how even though his wish was to have a much longer story, the approach taken by the showrunners is precisely how he would have balanced the time-lapse as well. While it had been said in a previous interview as to how House of the Dragon would be seeing less to no time skips in future seasons, it is interesting to think how the show would have played out if the first season would have seen Rhaenys and Viserys grow up.
House of the Dragon’s entire first season is available to watch on HBO Max.
Source: Gizmodo
