Since the beginning of the series we had been warning about the time jumps that we would witness in ‘The house of the dragon’. Unlike ‘Game of Thrones’, whose events covered a few years, a long decade has passed since the prequel began until the last episode aired (ten years between 5 and 6 and a few more years before).
Apparently it wasn’t always the plan, because the original idea was to start directly with the death of Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), however this left out too much background and background… something that fixed Ryan County when he joined the project: a lot to cut and count for everything that led to the Targaryen civil war.
generational war story
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Condal justified that for them it was vital to tell the war for what it is: a conflict of generations and, therefore, it is necessary to explore the protagonists well and how they go from young to adult:
“I am excited by the pace and structure of the story that we are telling in the first season. It is very complex. It happens over a long period of time because children need to get married and then grow up and then have their own children grow up in order to tell the story of this generational war being fought. HBO gave [al showrunner Miguel Sapochnik] the creative freedom to tell this incredibly complex story in a really patient and character-focused way that mounts a first season to draw you into one of the most famous and bloody conflicts in the history of Westeros… if not the most.
“It’s what makes this HBO premium content versus the thing that we would have been forced to do on a different site. Most sites would not have had the patience and courage to allow us to tell the story that we are telling. But that’s how you tell this story correctly. We are telling a generational war story. We have set everything up so that at the moment the first saber falls you understand all the players… where they are and why they are like that. The whole story is there instead of being told for you on display. That way you will see it all happen.”
In fact is a bet that the creators are quite sure that ends up rewarding the viewer. So says Miguel Sapochnikcoshowrunner and director of this first season (remember that he will not be in the second):
“No one has ever told us, ‘when is the drama going to start?’ There is a real advantage to taking your time getting to know the characters because the investment is well worth it. Season 1 of ‘House of the Dragon’ is a slow process. And it deserves it because there’s enough there to keep everyone interested, but we’ve intentionally steered clear of doing show business so that when we get back to it we can do it right.”
I recognize I quite like how the series is planned, but it is true that the cast changes to present this passage of time are not all fine. More why characters don’t change their faces than for those who do.