House of the Dragon was the first spinoff series in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire franchise, that explored the devastating Civil War that led to the decline of House Targaryen. Instead of a pilot, the show received a straight-to-series order in 2019, which is a testament to HBO’s faith in the prequel show. HoTD Season 1 production was also grand in scale with a budget larger than Game of Thrones, which helped the show rectify one of its biggest regrets of Martin in the original show.
Martin earlier pointed out one brief 90-second scene in the first season of Game of Thrones as his biggest regret in the show’s eight-season run. The scene in question was Robert Baratheon’s royal hunt scene which lacked the grandiose of a royal hunting party.
House of the Dragon Rectified George R. R. Martin’s Biggest Game of Thrones Regret
House of the Dragon episode 3 delivered one of the most lavish scenes that George R. R. Martin desired for the original Game of Thrones series. In the episode, there is a grand celebration for Prince Aegon’s second name day, which saw the gathering of important lords and ladies. King Viserys walks into Kingswood to hunt for a white hart, the rare magical deer. The scene is decorated with everything Martin wished for during Robert Baratheon’s hunt in Game of Thrones Season 1.
The author opened up about his biggest GoT regret with James Hibberd for his book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon. Martin called the royal hunt scene in Game of Thrones his least favorite scene in the show, which definitely will not be fans’ first pick. The fateful hunt of Robert Baratheon bothered Martin because of how lackluster it was in the series. Martin shared that he knew what a royal hunting party was like in the ancient kingdoms.
He detailed that the scene should have had hundreds of soldiers, grand pavilions, dogs, horses, and blowing horns. However, Baratheon walked into the forest as if he were on a hunting trip with three of his friends holding spears. Martin also revealed that the budgetary constraint on the first series played into how the scene was portrayed. Martin shared with Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon:
“I knew what a royal hunting party was like. There would have been a hundred guys. There would have been pavilions. There would have been huntsmen. There would have been dogs. There would have been horns blowing – that’s how a king goes hunting! He wouldn’t have just been walking through the woods with three of his friends holding spears hoping to meet a boar. But at that point, we couldn’t afford horses or dogs or pavilions.”
House of the Dragon‘s grand setting for the royal hunt was important considering how it introduced some of the major players of the series during the event. It also helped a number of plots move forward. Moreover, HoTD could easily pull off the scene due to its massive budget compared to Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragons v. Game of Thrones — The Huge Difference In Budget
George R. R. Martin was right when he shared that Game of Thrones couldn’t afford horses or dogs at that point in the series. The show’s first-season budget was $6 million per episode, with the pilot costing up to $10 million (via E! News). According to Variety, the per-episode budget for the eighth and final season of the series was $15 million.
In comparison, HBO was willing to spend a lot on House of the Dragon. The prequel series was made on a reported budget of just under $20 million per episode (via Variety). One major difference could also be spotted in how the jousting tournament scenes were portrayed in both series. The prequel series premiere satisfied fans with a much bigger tournament setting than its predecessor, reaffirming fans’ faith in the new series.
Both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon Season 1 are now available on Max. The second season of the prequel series will premiere on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16.
