George R.R. Martin Had A Trio Of Requests For ‘House Of The Dragon,’ Including One That ‘Game Of Thrones’ Ignored

George R.R. Martin didn’t always get his way with Game of Thrones, but things are different for House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon co-showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal revealed the three things that the A Song of Ice and Fire author requested be in the prequel series. “[Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss] skipped over Jaehaerys for reasons of clarity that [Martin] really didn’t understand,” Sapochnik told Insider. “He had a bee in his bonnet about it. He wanted us to right that wrong.” Jaehaerys II Targaryen (Daenerys’ grandfather) was mentioned to have sat on the Iron Throne in the books, but he was left out of the show to simplify the Targaryen family tree.

Martin’s other demands: more colors, especially for the dragons.

Martin was hopeful that House of the Dragon would be the perfect time for fans to see dragons of varying size, shape, and color… Martin also asked that House of the Dragon include a lot of symbolic color related to all the major and minor Houses of Westeros. He spoke with Condal about the heraldry fans would see and that detail’s importance in the story.

The series will feature at least 17 dragons, which Condal told the Hollywood Reporter was the “biggest difference” between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. “Dragons exist in this [era], whereas they were an extinct species that came back to life in the original show,” he said. “So there’s an infrastructure built around them. There’s a dragon pit, saddles and dragon keepers — this monk-like order that takes care of them.”

No wonder Martin hasn’t finished the books: he’s too busy making sure Syrax is the right shade of yellow. House of the Dragon premieres on August 21.