The premiere of ‘The House of the Dragon’ garnered an impressive success, as it became the most watched launch of all time for an HBO Max series. Then some viewers enjoyed this return to the ‘Game of Thrones’ universe more than others, but now it has been harshly criticized for not including a notice at the beginning of its first episode.
Beware of spoilers for ‘House of the Dragon’
Those of you who have already seen ‘The heirs of the dragon’ will remember the powerful scene of the birth of the king’s son, in which Viserys (Paddy Considine) makes the decision to sacrifice his wife (Sian Brooke) in order to try to save the baby. The plan ends up being an absolute disaster and now several people have raised their voices against HBO Max for not having put some kind of notice at the beginning of the chapter about what awaited them ahead.
It is true that George R. R. Martin yes it did, coming to compare it in a somewhat exaggerated way with The Red Wedding of ‘Game of Thrones’, but that information did not reach many viewers. For example, Jen Coates de Sands, an English company specialized in supporting anyone who has suffered the death of a baby, has commented the following:
I think it’s pretty traumatic for anybody, actually. With 13 babies dying every day in the UK, the situation directly affects a huge community of people as well. In this way, people can be better equipped with knowledge and make an informed decision to watch or skip certain scenes or episodes.
For its part, John Whipplecreator of DoesTheDogDie website believes streaming platforms should allow “tailor warnings to each user, even recommending what to watch based on user-specific triggers“.
This is how the showrunners see it
Yes indeed, Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal, showrunners of the series, recently revealed that several women in their lives asked them to make the scene even more violent than they had initially conceived. This is what Sapochnik had to say about it:
We made it a point to show it to as many women as possible and asked them the same question: “Was this too violent for you?” And unanimously, the answer was ‘no.’ to be more”