House of the Dragon’snew Rhaenyra tease confirms the HBO prequel series is sticking with its story, and that’s a good thing.House of the Dragonseason 3is well underway, with filming already in progress for a hopeful 2026 release. The pressure has never been higher for the series to perform, following season 2’s mixed reviews.
Fans of theGame of Thronesprequel series have a broad range of emotions onwhat went wrong withHouse of the Dragonseason 2, and as a massive fan of both George R.R. Martin’s books and the television medium, I resonate with most of them. That said, I still believe there’s only one course for the show going forward.
Emma D’Arcy leadsHouse of the Dragon’scastas Rhaenyra Targaryen, and the 33-year-old actor recently spoke withAwards Radarabout the process of filming season 3.Regarding how they use the source material book,Fire & Blood, as a reference to inform their performance, D’Arcy said the following:
“Any sort of historical document tends to be deeply subjective and requires context for understanding. I feel that part of our job is to offer some of that context. But it’s funny, I wouldn’t go back to the book now, possibly until we finish this journey.House of the Dragonnow needs to run its course.”
House Of The Dragon Season 3 Is Sticking To Its Guns
House Of The Dragon Is Picking Up Where Season 2 Left Off
Essentially, what Emma D’Arcy is saying is thatHouse of the Dragonisn’t just here to tell the same story asFire & Blood; it’s providing a subjective contextualization of a fictional historical text. This has always been the case, with the show’s writers taking plenty of creative liberties in bringing the book to life.
With two seasons in, it’s too late forHouse of the Dragonto try to turn things around and become something it’s not.At this point, they have to move forward, for better or for worse. At this point, Emma D’Arcy can’t useFire & Bloodas a resource to contextualize their character becauseHouse of the Dragonhas already deviated from the text.
This means, heading intoHouse of the Dragonseason 3, audiences can expect more changes.Rhaena will likely ride Sheepstealer, Daemon will continue to ponder White Walkers and the Three-Eyed Raven, and Rhaenyra and Alicent might continue to have a more complicated relationship than book readers expected.
House Of The Dragon’s Angle Was Always A Subjective Fire & Blood Adaptation
This Show Hasn’t Ever Been Close To Book Accurate
While a fair amount of the story changes have received divisive responses inHouse of the Dragon, there have also been plenty that worked well. For example, theAegon’s Dream prophecyhas provided book readers with a renewed supply of material to theorize about, especially given that this was Martin’s idea.
Actor Paddy Considine brought the Targaryen monarch to life in a way no one saw coming, and it goes to show that the writers are more than capable of embellishing the material.
Another obvious example isViserys Targaryen, who Martin even admitted was more compelling than the version he wrote in the text. Actor Paddy Considine brought the Targaryen monarch to life in a way no one saw coming, and it goes to show that the writers are more than capable of embellishing the material.
With two seasons in the books,House of the Dragonbelongs to the team working on it at HBO. It’s unfortunate that George R.R. Martin and a portion of the audience pool aren’t satisfied with the show’s ideas, butthis is the process of adaptation, especially when it involves a book formatted likeFire & Blood.
Fire & Bloodisn’t a full-length novel like theA Song of Ice & Firebooks, and the writers are forced to fill in gaps with supplementary material.There are other changes that are harder to explain, but they are tied to the subjective perspective aspect.Crucially, season 1 proved this method could work.
It’s Too Late For House Of The Dragon To Become More Book Accurate - & That’s Okay
HBO’s Dance Of The Dragons Adaptation Is Its Own Story Now
Something I’ve been saying sinceHouse of the Dragonseason 2 was on air is thatwe can’t really tell if the changes they make are good or bad until we’ve seen the full scope of things. At this point, the only course for audiences is to accept that this isn’t going to beFire & Bloodbrought to life one-to-one.
House of the Dragonseason 3 isn’t going to suddenly become the Dance of the Dragons adaptations some fans might have hoped for. We might get to see more epic battle sequences, which are hard to go wrong with, even if the story elements aren’t working; however,the character drama is going to pick up right where Season 2 left off.
HBO and the writing staff ofHouse of the Dragonmade their bed, and now they’re lying in it. Audiences are judging every story change as if the adaptation is heading toward the ending they expect, but that’s likely not where the story is headed.
When all four seasons are completed, we can reflect on them and examine the narrative changes that made it better or worse than the book.
TheGame of Thronesprequel might end with similar beats to the book version of the Dance, butHouse of the Dragonis its own story. When all four seasons are completed, we can reflect on them and examine the narrative changes that made it better or worse than the book.
