The snub of recognizing House of the Dragon as one of the six best of 2024 has many layers to explore, from injustice to the simple recognition that, even though it was a success, it falls far short of what Game of Thrones was.

“And to think that House of the Dragon won the Golden Globes with its first season, and the second season that was supposed to continue this legacy didn’t even receive a nomination! It seems that we, fans of the books, weren’t so wrong in wanting a worthy script, right, Ms. HBO?!”, said a fan on X.

“The second season of “HOUSE OF THE DRAGON” was not nominated for the Golden Globe in the category of best drama series! 🤯 As a reminder, season 1 was awarded the Best in 2023”, recalled another.

And both complaints are true. What happened between 2021 and 2023? Did the changes in the plot affect the result?

Strange, very strange

Before evaluating the impact of the snub at the first of the biggest awards of the year, the Golden Globes has never paid much attention to the franchise and it was more surprising to have awarded the debut of House of the Dragon in 2023 than not. So much so that there weren’t even many of the cast at the party besides the two actresses who played Rhaenyra Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy and Milly Alcock, and the director, Miguel Sapochnik. No, it wasn’t expected.

Fast forward two years (the first season was due in 2022), and the expectation was that now is the series’ big moment. Still, many complaints left and right seem to have cost its prestige and in a year when it would be “easy”, it was left out of the list of SIX finalists. Those selected, such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Diplomat, are infinitely less impactful (not to say bad) compared to House of the Dragon. And what’s more shocking is that the second season of Squid Game hasn’t even premiered on Netflix, but it’s already nominated for the Golden Globes. That hurts.

Does the snub confirm the drop?

In 2024, House of the Dragon moved fans and audiences, with an even clearer production quality, with the dragons impressing, and a much faster pace in the story, which came with two fewer episodes although the plot is even more complex.

The unanimous opinion was on Emma D’Arcy’s performance, the only one nominated again in 2024 for Best Actress, but once again with little chance of winning. Many problems cannot be ignored with the script, unnecessary liberties, and adaptations that were even rejected by the author George R. R. Martin, to the point of listing them on his blog complaining that the showrunners created unnecessary problems that took away from the drama of the story. We will mention what specifically changed, but it is something to recognize the feat of having fewer episodes and dragging out a story that became unnecessarily slow.

In the end, neither House of the Dragon nor Rings of Power would be the best of the year, but only if there was something much better than The Diplomat or Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Shogun’s possible victory makes the discussion almost irrelevant, but, yes, the snub shows that the series did not live up to its expectations.

Where are the problems?

Game of Thrones only became a phenomenon when it ended its fourth season, and of the eight seasons, six had 10 episodes without ever seeming excessive. They allowed fans to follow everyone’s journey with the same quality, so much so that one of the many problems in the final season was precisely the acceleration to end in seven (Season 7) and six (Season 8).

As I said, although House of the Dragon began with 10 episodes and is only 8 in its second season, the choices to simplify or adjust the original book seem somewhat unnecessary. Unlike his previous books, in Fire And Blood, Martin used fewer characters and intensified the relationships between the Targaryens, which is why some of the changes in the series have been surprising.

The first one that had an unnecessary impact was changing the conflict between siblings to that of two strong women, stepmother and stepdaughter. Disney princesses have already produced scary second wives, and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) doesn’t even come close. Clearly, what they wanted was to have a series with more than one strong woman leading the story, but here having two half-siblings fighting for the Crown makes more sense and shock than two former childhood friends dealing with misogyny and the poison of Power.

Having Rhaenyra and Alicent thrown on opposite sides and hating each other differs very little from the book and would be sensational if it were maintained. However, in the second season, the two are trying to find a path to Peace despite everything, being ignored by men and – finally – having to make difficult choices. It didn’t work, even with two great actresses.

Alicent from House of the Dragon is more controversial, a saint of the hollow stick, a woman envious of Rhaenyra, and a fool who thinks she is a leader, but is only used by the Green faction. Rhaenyra is stronger and more participative than the one in the book, but what made her interesting was precisely the neurosis and trauma that led the Queen of the Blacks to make such a tragic mistake. Today, the two irritate us more than they enchant us because war is always inevitable.

As if all that were not enough, the second season caught the most relevant and charismatic actor of the series, Matt Smith, putting him on the verge of betraying Rhaenyra and imprisoned in a haunted castle THE ENTIRE SEASON. His delusions were interesting in one episode, but we had more of them until the end when he finally returned to fight for his wife and niece. A drawn-out and meaningless journey. To make matters worse, there is no Nettles, who was crucial to creating the definitive separation between Rhaenyra and Daemon, with her plot probably transferred to his daughter, Rhaena. It will not have the same effect.

Without a doubt, the most significant change that irritated the author and purists is in one of the most terrifying passages of the story, involving Helaena and her children. In the book, she had three and lost one in a violent and traumatic way, but there needed to be three children for the final outcome of the drama. Now she only has a girl and she cannot suffer the same fate as that other child. Complaining about having saved minors does not make us sociopaths, but the mystery of Helaena’s future death revolved around the death of this now non-existent son. Even with any other justification, it will no longer have the same weight.

Why TWO more seasons?

House of the Dragon was always written to be short. The uncertain pace of the second season suggests that the fact that the story has four is somewhat alarming. The Targaryen civil war that will bring an end to the dragons could have been told in three seasons, no more. These slip-ups are what hinder any chance of the series emerging from the shadow of its predecessor. And it was already a difficult challenge, and it only got worse.

I suspect that it will be very difficult for House of the Dragon to reach the prestige of Game of Thrones, but when it is forgotten by the more eclectic awards like the Golden Globes, it places itself dangerously in the box of mistakes, and we don’t want mistakes in Westeros.

Unfortunately, the two most powerful scenes have already happened in Rhaenyra’s journey in search of her place on the Iron Throne: the death of Rhaenys and the episode of Blood and Cheese. Of course, many sad deaths are coming, but effectively the most shocking will be the one that should mark the end of the story. I’m sorry because I love House of the Dragon, but, painful as it is, the Golden Globes snub wasn’t unfair, but a sign that the series has already gone wrong if they were hoping to make history. Now we can only hope for a better fate for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Will they get it right?

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