The producers of HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ say that it was an intentional decision to slow the pace in season 1 to set the stage for war in season 2.
Ryan Condal explained: “We will get to the spectacle,” he insists. “But you have to understand these people’s complexities before they’re thrown into war.
“Series two will hit the rhythms people came to expect from the middle run of ‘Game of Thrones’, but it will have been earned, and viewers will feel the tragedies because we put the work in.”
Also noticeable in the first season, which finishes tonight in the US on HBO, has been the toned-down presentation of sexual violence that was such an integral part of Thrones, with assaults in the narrative taking place off-screen.
Condal told The Times: “While there are uncomfortable scenes in the show, we tried to stay away from anything that felt superfluous in the telling of the story.
“So when the rape [by Prince Aegon of a servant girl] happened in episode eight, it haunts viewers because they see what it does to the young woman instead of seeing the event itself. It is the story we are telling — we can imagine what it looked like. We have seen it on TV before. You don’t need to see the act itself.”
Actor Matt Smith, who plays Daemon Targaryen, recently compared what it was like playing ‘Doctor Who’, versus starring on ‘House of the Dragon.’
“The pressure that came with Doctor Who is extraordinary,” Smith told the Los Angeles Times. “On this, you’re sharing it with like 10 other actors. Doctor Who is Doctor Who, Hamlet is Hamlet, you know? I was 26 [when I was cast] and I don’t know if I’ll ever feel pressure like that again.
“In Britain, anyway, the focus on that job is enormous. [‘House of the Dragon’] is a huge global franchise, or so they tell me, but I just go to work in a studio in Watford and try to get the lines in the right order.
“I think that everyone who leaves Doctor Who will forever miss Doctor Who because it doesn’t get any better. He is the most glorious character. To live with the idea of being able to time travel is f-ing amazing. It’s limitless. It’s a tough part to leave.”
