All the plaudits for the best TV show this year will probably go to the live-action adaptation of Fire & Blood by HBO. House of the Dragon has delivered an excellent 10-episode debut season that has been the subject of praise and approval from fans and critics alike, and could just shape up to be better than Game of Thrones!
While the GoT comparison is a bit ambitious, it’s no doubt that showrunner Ryan Condal has done an impressive job of building up the events and tragic betrayals leading to the Targaryen civil war of succession. The Dance of the Dragons will most definitely be next season’s focus, and Condal isn’t inviting any opinions on how it should be executed.
House Of The Dragon Showrunner Ryan Condal Dismisses Quarrelsome Fans
X-X-X-X-X- SPOILERS FOR HOUSE OF THE DRAGON-X-X-X-X-X
One of the most annoying problems that showrunners of TV shows face is the backlash that comes from fans of the TV show who have differing opinions on how certain arcs/scenes should’ve played out.
While they are somewhat versed in the lore, it’s absolutely disrespectful to be dictating how a TV series should be run. This statement just gets more important when a successful TV series like House of the Dragon has fans with divided opinions on certain plotlines and characters.
Showrunner Ryan Condal, however, has not succumbed to fan demands and complaints, which he feels has no impact since he is aware that some of his choices won’t be well received by some fans.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal weighed in on fan opinions, referring to the backlash from that one scene in the season finale where Daemon Targaryen strangles his wife/nephew Rhaenyra Targaryen-
“Yeah, please explain to me and George who Daemon is as a character, everybody.”
The Colony showrunner further justified Daemon’s abrupt aggressiveness by referring back to earlier scenes in the TV series where Daemon showed that he was… a little bit knocked in the head-
“I mean… he killed his wife [Rhea Royce]. We’ve seen Daemon do very questionable things all season long, but he’s being played incredibly by an actor who’s exuding charisma.”
“We’re really drawn to those characters as an audience, but that doesn’t mean that they are unimpeachable heroes that are not capable of doing really questionable things.”
In a TV series like House of the Dragon, which as we all know is a prequel to Game of Thrones, you have to expect the unexpected!
House of the Dragon Fans Conflicted Over Ryan Condal’s Response
That was quite the response from Ryan Condal, maybe he was striking an argument to preserve the artistic freedom that he already has over the TV series.
It’s completely justifiable for fans to complain that Daemon from the books is not the same as the one from House of the Dragon. It should be of utmost importance to make sure that Daemon is properly transitioned into live-action considering the fact that he is George R.R. Martin’s favorite character.
Some set of fans have not taken too well to showrunner Ryan Condal’s response to fan disapproval of Daemon’s sudden aggression toward Rhaenyra, while some think otherwise-
every single character in got has committed crimes and made questionable choices and people still like them why is it such a big deal with daemon?
— bea HOTD (@ceruleanheaven) October 28, 2022
Condal’s Alicent isn’t in favor either-
Said Ryan who made show!Alicent into a completely new character who has nothing in common with her book counterpart except the green dress. Same goes for Daemon, who resembles book!Daemon only because of Matt's decisions. It must succ when actors are more competent than you lmao
— drgnboobies (@dragontidddies) October 28, 2022
Deviating from the source material?-
Ryan, you worry too much about Daemon's fans. Your real enemy here is locals hating the sht out of that book page scene, and ratioed the h€|| out of a GOT official account LMAO. 34K versus 12K?? How worse was that scene to warrant this ratio? 🤷 @HBO this is a milestone. pic.twitter.com/WL5l34DTQi
— 🐣 (@gonlyb) October 28, 2022
Condal’s PR nightmare! –
People are paying a subscription to watch a show and they are entitled to their opinion positive or negative, no writer, director can tell a viewer how to feel what is this a tyranny that we have to agree with him, this entitlement & dismissive actitud is not good for PR
— Thelma Casado (@ThelmaCasado) October 28, 2022
A bane for some, chad for others-
Book readers should be kept in check. Chad Ryan.
— ♚ Kaustubh Pawar ♚ (@_kaustubhpawar) October 28, 2022
How do you think Ryan Condal should be handling fan complaints about lack of faithfulness to source material in the second? Follow his own narrative or worship what the books have laid out?
House of the Dragon is currently available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
