'House of the Dragon' showrunners say George R.R. Martin requested 3 details from his books be included in the series
- Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal are the co-showrunners of HBO's "House of the Dragon."
- Author George R.R. Martin requested that the dragons be more colorful in this adaptation.
As HBO embarked on a brand new adaptation of George R.R. Martin's books — this time of "Fire and Blood" instead of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels — the fantasy author made a few key requests of the new showrunners.
During a press event attended by Insider (and alongside reporters from PopSugar and MetaCritic), "House of the Dragon" co-showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal said there were three things Martin asked to have included: Colorful dragons, an emphasis on bright heraldry, and the addition of King Jaehaerys Targaryen II.
According to Sapochnik, Martin had taken note when "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. "Dan" Weiss left Jaehaerys II out of the listed line of rulers when it came to historical Targaryen kings in the fictional universe.
"David and Dan and skipped over Jaehaerys for reasons of clarity that he really didn't understand," Sapochnik said, referring to Martin. "He had a bee in his bonnet about it. He wanted us to right that wrong."
As for the other requests that revolved around color, Martin was hopeful that "House of the Dragon" would be the perfect time for fans to see dragons of varying size, shape, and color.
In "Game of Thrones," Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons had distinct coloring. Drogon (named for Khal Drogo) had black and red scales. Viserion (named for her brother Viserys) was cream and gold. And Rhaegal (named for her other brother Rhaegar) was green and bronze.
But as her dragons got larger, their coloring became just a subtle accent among dark black and grey scales. In "House of the Dragon," however, each creature should be distinct enough for people on the ground to know which Targaryen is flying above them based simply on the color of the dragon's scales.
Martin also asked that "House of the Dragon" include a lot of symbolic color related to all the major and minor Houses of Westeros. He spoke with Condal about the heraldry fans would see and that detail's importance in the story.
"It's such a time of high decadence and peace and wealth and prosperity for the realm," Condal said. "Everybody would really festoon themselves in their house colors and be proud of them as they marched into the tournament."
Fans will have to wait another couple of weeks before seeing all of these visions brought to life in the new "Game of Thrones" prequel series.
"House of the Dragon" premieres on Sunday, August 21 on HBO at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET.