[This story contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season two, episode one.]
a George R.R. Martin sequence is brutal when it has a nickname. There was, in fact, The Crimson Wedding ceremony and The Purple Wedding ceremony in Recreation of Thrones. However an occasion from Martin’s Hearth & Blood guide that Home of the Dragon that followers have been anticipating is sickly titled “Blood and Cheese” and transpired on the finish of the present’s season two premiere.
Blood and Cheese are the lowly assassins Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) employed to infiltrate the Crimson Maintain and homicide Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). However in a twist, the duo as an alternative come across Queen Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) and her toddler twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. They demand Helaena inform them which is Jaehaerys, they usually kill the kid in his mattress.
Dragon made a number of modifications from the guide, one in all which added a twist to the sequence and stored Daemon from seeming fairly so evil. Within the guide, Blood and Cheese had been ordered to kill a younger prince, whereas within the present they had been particularly ordered to kill King Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) brother Aemond — which is sensible as a extra direct revenge play given Aemond killed Luke (Elliot Grihault) within the first season finale. Daemon was requested by the assassins what they need to do in the event that they couldn’t discover Aemond, and his reply wasn’t proven on digicam — leaving some thriller transferring ahead as to his backup orders and resulting in the episode’s very suspenseful sequence displaying the assassins roaming by way of the Maintain as they hunted for a goal. One other tweak was that, within the guide, Helaena has two younger sons, and Blood and Cheese make her select which they kill (she picked the youngest, after which they killed her oldest as an alternative). As well as, the present featured Helaena’s present/curse of prophecy, which had her fearing “the rats,” referring to the Ratcatcher murderer.
Beneath, showrunner Ryan Condal opened up about adapting the disturbing sequence.
How did you go about adapting the Blood and Cheese sequence, taking the roadmap George laid out, and attempting to doubtlessly enhance upon it for the present?
It was much less about attempting to high the guide, it was simply extra in regards to the practicality of the place we had been. So long as the interval of historical past season one lined, it was nonetheless a compressed time interval — the guide lined 30-plus years, and we crunched it down to twenty. One of many unwanted effects is you’ve got Rhaenyra and Daemon’s youngsters are a lot youthful than they had been within the guide, as are Helaena and Aegon’s youngsters. They haven’t been collectively lengthy sufficient to have two generations of children. So Maelor doesn’t but exist, and we solely have the twins. So working from that place, we simply wished to attempt to make Blood and Cheese a visceral tv sequence. We determined to inform it from their viewpoint and make it like a heist gone incorrect. Whereas within the guide, it’s depicted purely from Helaena and Alicent’s perspective. Blood and Cheese stumble upon Helaena, and he or she’s kind of the third act of their story. The thought was to construct suspense and dread as they’re searching for Aemond, who Daemon names because the goal, and then you definitely put two criminals right into a scenario with gold in entrance of their faces and issues can go incorrect.
We’re additionally left with the query of what Daemon mentioned, precisely, when he was requested what they need to do if they will’t discover Aemond. I are inclined to assume individuals who comply with orders like their lives rely on it are in all probability fairly good at following orders, however it seems like out of your reply that issues certainly went incorrect.
We deliberately reduce away from that second as a result of I like Matt Smith and the look that he provides them simply haunts me. He definitely gave them some form of instruction, and to some extent, we hear them arguing about it within the room, that he mentioned we have to convey a head. A son for a son. You may think about Daemon possibly mentioned to them, “Don’t go away empty-handed.” However we left it open to interpretation.
I liked how a lot time was spent strolling by way of the citadel, and Ramin Djawadi’s rating throughout that was so tense. We’re teased once more with Helaena having some extent of prophecy. Her response was additionally very muted, particularly when she went down the steps. I used to be questioning, “Is she in shock? Or is it the other of shock as she knew this was going to occur, to some extent?” How a lot are we imagined to assume that she knew?
Helaena shouldn’t be magical, however she’s tuned right into a frequency that different characters are usually not, as we arrange in season one. We’re taking part in with this concept of their varied talks. As Viserys talked about, there are dragon dreamers in each technology of the Targaryens, and Helaena, as a result of she’s seen on this world is odd, lots of people don’t essentially take note of the issues that she says. However I additionally assume she doesn’t have a transparent interpretation of them. It’s not like she’s seeing this stuff and is aware of precisely what they’re. Loads of occasions she doesn’t understand what it was till the occasion occurs. I feel that’s a part of the burden of this present — if you happen to may even name it that — and what she’s burdened with. So I feel she simply perceives the world otherwise. What you’re seeing in that sequence is a really human response. It’s shock, and he or she goes from a panic of considering she’s going to be chased out after which she will get to the underside of the steps, and he or she’s questioning, “OK, the place do I am going? The place do I am going now?” She’s working for her life, and attempting to determine the place to go subsequent.
On the high of the episode, we’re additionally launched to Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor). As followers, we’ve such a hard and fast thought of what Stark males are like. How does this iteration of Stark stand out from those we’ve identified from the unique present?
I’ve to credit score Tom Taylor, who has develop into one of the vital talked about individuals on the web as a result of all people loves a Stark, and all people is so anticipating his arrival on the present, and he’s completed an ideal job with it. The factor that the majority appealed to me is that I like the Starks. I desperately wished to return to The Wall, however I wished a superb purpose to incorporate within the story. The factor that appealed to me most about Cregan and the character that George wrote within the guide is that he was a younger Stark. The Starks we’ve identified like Ned Stark have been the graybeards who’ve been by way of life and plenty of winters. This man is actually Robb Stark’s age, and he’s in command of the complete North. And I believed that was an attention-grabbing character to satisfy and depict. Jace (Harry Collett) is a bit youthful than him, however they’re from an analogous technology. And these two guys are up on that wall speaking a couple of treaty that’s going to have an effect on the complete realm and displaying how younger males on this time are those who usually determine the place and the way the longer term goes to play out.
Home of the Dragon airs Sundays on HBO.