Warning: Contains spoilers for Fire & Blood, the book on which House of the Dragon is based. House of the Dragon made to Blood and Cheese and, in particular, the omission of Prince Maelor Targaryen, the third child of King Aegon II Targaryen and Queen Helaena Targaryen.

Now, House of the Dragon season 3 has a plan for it, which is great to hear, but ittedly I'm left more confused by those changes now than I was before.

Why House Of The Dragon Cut Prince Maelor Targaryen

Showrunner Ryan Condal Has Explained It

In his response to Martin's comments, Condal talks about his working relationship with the author and that, at some point, things reached a point where the author wouldn't accept certain changes to his work:

"It's this incomplete history and it requires a lot of ing of the dots and a lot of invention as you go along the way. I will simply say, I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time. But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way."

In a lot of ways, that's absolutely fair. Any adaptation is going to have to make changes and, as Condal rightly touches on, Fire & Blood is not a straightforward book to turn into a TV show. Most of the story points and character arcs need fleshing out, something the show has, for the most part, done a reasonable job with. Similarly, there are going to be constraints - be they budgetary or time, which would fit with the "practical issues" mentioned - that will always have an impact.

But Condal has previously talked about changing Blood and Cheese, and cutting Maelor, saying:

"I mean, just very simply, Maelor (was) not even born in the storyline. We did have to compress time in Season one to make it so that we didn’t have to recast every character on screen. We were just recasting the kids, so to speak, as we went along, and part of that meant that Aegon and Helaena’s children were younger, as are Daemon and Rhaenyra’s children younger at the very end of this, because not as much time ed after their marriages to give time for all these kids to grow up.

"The other (element) was just wanting it to be this very visceral experience that happens to Helaena, who I think a lot of people would argue is the most innocent person on either side of this conflict and just sort of finds herself in the crossfire of this tit-for-tat kind of punch-and-counterpunch that’s going on between the sides. It felt like that was the core dramatic point that was important to be made."

Not wanting to recast actors too much and compressing the timeline is understandable to a point, but it didn't need to necessitate cutting Maelor entirely when there were other options on the table, such as slightly extending the time jump between season 1, episodes 7 and 8, and introducing Aegon and Helaena's youngest child then, since that's when the others were brought in. Plus, a big reason behind it was to do with Helaena, so it was seemingly equally a story- and character-driven decision as much as anything else.

Prince Maelor's Absence Hurt House Of The Dragon

Season 3 Is Also At Risk Of Suffering From The Change

The comments of Condal, and indeed Martin's own complaints, wouldn't matter as much if Blood and Cheese itself had been a great event. This was one of the most anticipated scenes of the entire show, and whether that level of pressure on it was fair or not, it did underwhelm. That's because of a variety of storytelling decisions - such as the ambiguity around what Daemon Targaryen told them, and ending things with Helaena walking in on Alicent Hightower and Criston Cole - but the primary issues lie with Helaena and Maelor.

The cruelty of Helaena choosing, and then Blood and Cheese killing the opposite son to the one she picked, is what makes the scene so emotionally devastating and memorable, and that was lost in the adaptation.

It is absolutely correct that the moment should've been a visceral one for Helaena, where we feel her torment and the pain of that choice. But by removing Maelor - not to mention making Helaena so distant and unknowable, despite Phia Saban's strong performance - it actively worked against that.

The cruelty of Helaena choosing Maelor, and then Blood and Cheese killing Jaehaerys instead, is what makes the scene so emotionally devastating and memorable, and that was lost in the adaptation. Story decisions can backfire, of course, it's part of making art, but then they can also be justly criticized, and putting it down to practical issues, in this case, doesn't quite work.

This is going to be a problem the show faces in season 3, too. In his blog post, Martin referenced the butterfly effect cutting Maelor would have, and that (as it stands) remains true. If Maelor never appears, it removes his own horrific death scene. It changes Aemond's position as heir to the Iron Throne. And, worst of all, is that it has a clear and tangible impact on the rest of Helaena's arc leading through to her death. Once again, the risk here is robbing us of what should be among the most emotional moments of the story.

Can House Of The Dragon Season 3 Still Include Maelor?

It's Still Possible To Introduce Him, But Harder To Do So Now

I very much want to give House of the Dragon the benefit of the doubt. It's a show that, for the most part, I think is very good, and at times great. I don't agree with a lot of the criticisms of season 2's pacing, and generally think it got a bit of an unfair rep for some of its decisions, most of which are understandable. But the changes to Blood and Cheese, and what spins out of them, are still very difficult to understand.

Condal does seem confident in the decision and how it's going to play out, which is good to hear. Will that mean including Maelor in the show? It is possible that Helaena became pregnant after Blood and Cheese, or was even pregnant during it, but that's a relatively short window: after it happens, she and Aegon can barely look at each other, and then it's not much longer before he's burned to a crisp (he even notes that a certain part of him "burst in the flames like a sausage on a spit.")

So, yes, it's theoretically possible Maelor will be around in season 3, but it's harder to pull that off at this point than it would've been by simply having him born in season 1. And while Maelor's death is horrific in the book, it's going to be much harder, if not impossible, to do that story with a baby.

If Maelor isn't in season 3, the thing I really hope it is able to focus on and better address when it comes to this is our understanding of Helaena. Giving her dragon dreams, and perhaps even greater powers, is a cool twist, but it's come at the expense of knowing her: she's become too much like Bran, where we're not really able to comprehend her because she is so distant from it all.

House of the Dragon season 3 is now filming, and will air on HBO and Max sometime in 2026. Season 4, meanwhile, is expected to be the last one.

That has to change in some way in House of the Dragon season 3, with or without Maelor, for her biggest moments to land the way they ought to. If it does that, and that story and her arc works as tragically and powerfully as it should, then it may still be possible to justify changing Blood and Cheese. But if it doesn't, then that's going to look even worse in hindsight, and Martin could be proved right.