“Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin (74) wants to tell the story of “House of the Dragon” in 40 episodes. “It will take four full seasons of ten episodes each to do Dragon Dance justice from start to finish,” he wrote in a blog on his website.
The writer also elaborated on why they chose 10 episodes per season: “If ‘House of the Dragon’ had 13 episodes per season, maybe we could have shown all the things that we had to bridge through time jumps… although that would have run the risk of some viewers complaining that the series was ‘too slow’, that ‘nothing was happening,'” Martin said. “As it is, I’m thrilled that we still have ten hours per season to tell our story.”
He added a few “considerations” about the series’ many time jumps: Writer Ryan J. Condal “mastered the ‘jumps’ very well and I love love love love both the younger versions of Alicent and Rhaenyra and the adult versions and the actresses who play them,” enthused the writer. “I wish we had had more time to reflect on the relationship between Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin, Daemon and Laena’s marriage and their time in Pentos, the births of various children […] and everything else we’re leaving out had to research? Sure. But there’s a limited number of minutes per episode and only a limited number of episodes per season,” said Martin.
Martin only had positive things to say about the latest episode “The Lord of the Tides”: He wanted to express “great praise”, “especially to Paddy Considine for his portrayal of King Viserys, the first of his name,” writes the author. The character that Considine (49) created with the writers for the series was “so much more powerful and tragic and distinct than my own version in ‘Fire and Blood’ that I’m almost tempted to go back and tear up those chapters and to rewrite the entire history of his reign,” enthused the series creator. “Paddy deserves an Emmy for that episode alone. If he doesn’t get one, then there’s no justice,” Martin concluded.