House of the Dragon season 2 is a huge hit for HBO, following the success of its predecessor, Game of Thrones.
HBO boss Casey Bloys has dismissed the notion that House of the Dragon viewers were split over season 2. It comes after Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin criticised certain aspects of the recent season in a since-deleted blog entry.
During a chat with Deadline, the outlet claimed House of the Dragon’s fanbase had been “divided” over the most recent season, presumably in reference to the finale, which teased the epic war to come without featuring any battle scenes from its source material, Fire and Blood.
Asked about whether House of the Dragon has a shot at next year’s Emmys after the alleged “divide”, Bloys seemingly quipped: Yes, maybe one fan was.
“But no, the show did really, really well,” he added. “I expect that will be in competition.”
Bloys then said of HBO’s possible awards contenders: “I have high hopes for Penguin and Colin [Farrell] and Cristin [Milioti]. We’ve got White Lotus coming back, we’ve got Last of Us coming back, we’ve got Emmy winner Hacks coming back. So I’m looking forward to next year.”
One aspect of House of the Dragon season 2 that author Martin had criticised was its alteration of the infamous “Blood and Cheese” scene.
The season 2, episode 1 scene sees King Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) firstborn son beheaded in his sleep due to a tragic misunderstanding.
While the moment still packed a brutal punch on the small scene, Martin seemed displeased that certain elements from the source material had been removed.
The show also fails to include Aegon and Helaena’s (Phia Saban) youngest son in the scene.
At the time, Martin expressed his concern that tweaks made to the show could potentially have a disastrous butterfly effect on the show’s future seasons, including a major season 3 event that we won’t spoil here.
Nonetheless, plenty of fans expressed their enthusiasm for the show’s second season, with many arguing it had been even stronger than the last.
Martin’s relationship with HBO also appears to be unaffected, as the new Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has just finished filming.
All episodes of House of the Dragon seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream via Sky and NOW.