HotD Showrunner Is Bitter About GoT Comparisons: 'Shadow of the Great OG Series'

House of the Dragon Season 2 is fast approaching, and with it, one of the most gruesome and unhinged scenes in George Martin ’s original Fire & Blood novel. Blood and Cheese are coming, and they’re coming fast — but if you’re expecting the Red Wedding level of shock and gore, you’ve come to the wrong TV show.

And the HotD showrunner is genuinely tired of fans wanting his series to mirror Game of Thrones.

Blood and Cheese Won’t Be Red Wedding 2.0

If you’re lacking context, here’s the upcoming event we’re talking about without too many spoilers. Two hired killers are going to make a mother choose which of her children she’ll lose and then murder the other one right before her eyes. Those killers’ names are Blood and Cheese, and fans expect that scene to be House of the Dragon’s own Red Wedding… But it won’t be that — and could have never been.

“It is certainly a shocking moment. But the reason the Red Wedding was great was because it was shocking, but it also eliminated these two people you saw as <...> the stars of the show. They were the Stark family, and to eliminate them both in such a shocking way, at a wedding of all things… You can never top that,” showrunner Ryan Condal explained to Total Film.

Condal Resents Game of Thrones Comparisons

Developing House of the Dragon with the shadow of Game of Thrones constantly looming over his shoulder has proven to be exhausting for Ryan Condal. While there’s the pure realization that people will compare the two TV shows, there’s also the fact that fans are demanding HotD has the same tropes and events as GoT.

“That's one of the challenges making the show. Everybody's like, ‘Well, where's your Red Wedding and who's your Cersei?’ So you're constantly in the shadow of that great original series. <...> We're less interested in the shock value of it and more interested in the character experience through it, and then what happens to the characters as a result of it afterwards,” the showrunner shared.

Indeed, having Game of Thrones behind you at all times must feel exactly like those nasty comparisons to your mom’s friend’s son who’s more successful and so you suddenly have to be like him. That’s not how it works, neither with kids nor with TV shows: let House of the Dragon cook, and see this series for its own grandeur.

Source: Total Film