The co-creator of the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel sits down to discuss the massive challenges of adapting Targaryen history.
An excellent interview with HotD showrunner Ryan Condal by Derek Lawrence.
My favorite part was where Condal talks about his relationship with the actors.
Derek Lawrence: How have your conversations with your actors evolved over the years as they’ve come to better understand and inhabit their characters? Ryan Condal: Great showrunners let the show come to them, and that doesn't mean you totally let your audience or collaborators dictate what the show is, but it has to be a two-way street. You have to be open enough to receive sometimes challenging input. These actors I work with are not just brilliant performers, but Emma's this incredibly deep-thinking intellectual storyteller and really does tell their story through Rhaenyra. They keep the whole thing in their head in a really interesting way, and I've gotten tons of feedback from Emma over the seasons about how they see the story when they look solely through Rhaenyra's eyes. And things come out of that for the story at large that I would not necessarily see because I'm seeing it through 19 POVs. I keep an active conversation with all the actors. The wonderful thing about this absolute powerhouse group of British talent is most of them are classically trained, so they are storytellers first, and there's not a lot of ego involved.
As with Game of Thrones, HotD features an astonishingly good cast.
