‘More Time Jumps and Re-Castings’: George R.R Martin on 'House of the Dragon'

George R.R Martin sought to begin the House of the Dragon season one 40 years before the plot, leading to more time-jumps and re-castings in the show, as per Variety.

"One of the big issues with all of these writers was where to begin," Martin said in a video interview with Penguin Random House. "['House of the Dragon' showrunner Ryan Condal] began in [Episode 1] with the Great Council where the Lords vote that Jaehaerys's heir — he's just lost his son Baelon, who has died of appendicitis — so who is his heir now? And the lords vote to choose Viserys over Rhaenys."

"That [beginning] was not handed down by some muse from ancient Greece. We — myself and the other writers — had a lot of spirited discussions about where to begin that story," Martin added.

One of the series' writers wanted to start "House of the Dragon" with the death of Viserys' first wife Aemma (which is shown in graphic detail later on in the pilot episode). At the same time, another floated the idea of starting with Viserys' death (which doesn't occur in the series until the eighth episode). Martin's "favorite" idea was to start "much earlier."

"I would have began it like 40 years earlier with the episode I would have called 'The Heir and the Spare,' in which Jaehaerys's two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive," Martin said. "And we see the friendship, but also the rivalry, between the two sides of the great House. You know, Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman shoots him by accident on Tarth, and then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is it the daughter of the older son who's just died or the second son, who has sons of his own and is a man, and she's just a teenage girl?"

"You would have had 40 more years, and you would have had even more time jumps, and you would have even more re-castings, and, yeah, I was the only one who was really enthused about that," Martin said.

House of the Dragon's second season shooting will begin in early 2023; however, the showrunner Condal promised fans no significant time jumps or re-castings in the later seasons.