They're not flying through book material. This season only covered about 20-something pages in the book in comparison to the first season, which covered about 80ish pages.
Personally, I'm very happy that they aren't letting the botched ending of Season 8 alter the approach to the world and its connecting themes. The prophecy had a huge impact on House Targaryen. They shouldn't bury it because 2D's bias against fantasy undermined the endgame.
I'm fine with them acknowledging it as long as they don't dwell on it too much. It can be mentioned here and there but I don't want it to become a big overarching thing for Daemon's storyline in particular. It doesn't even have to do with how season 8 ended as much as letting this show run its own course without having to be connected so closely to the events of GOT.
They appear to be doing it to get a second chance at telling the story of Dany's fall from grace. Rhaenrya's darker moments are linked thematically (and even explicitly) to the prophecy. She's starting to use it to justify her wrongdoings. After her conversation with Allicent, she's perfectly positioned to have her own 'razing of kingslanding' type moment next season. Now, I've not read parts of the book that'll be covered in future seasons, but I can only imagine it won't turn out well once she realizes Aegon isn't there. This time it'll probably feel more natural and less rushed than with Dany in S8.
And even then he'd still keep putting it off.
I didn't expect him to venture into season 3 territory and divulge their plans. Even though it's based on a book and the whole story is technically already out there, doesn't that still violate some sort of NDA?
Again all the more reason why he should have just kept it to an internal email only to the showrunners and writers. His criticisms are valid but exposing their plans for future seasons is asking for trouble, regardless of whether it's already out there via the source material.
Well, there's a big difference between what they can actually afford to spend on the show and what Zaslav's Wall Street peabrain thinks they can afford to NOT spend. Cutting costs for the sake of cutting, trying to find the lowest possible threshold of expense before it all collapses, is his MO
Honestly expected a much bigger expose from that post. I feel like everyone already assumed that Maelor had been cut from the story. As for the ramifications it's not exactly hard to write a new motivation for someone in Heleana's position to kill herself. The main problem is that the show thus far has dropped the ball on showing how beloved she's supposed to be by the people of the city.
I didn't expect him to venture into season 3 territory and divulge their plans. Even though it's based on a book and the whole story is technically already out there, doesn't that still violate some sort of NDA?
I would assume (and hope) that GRRM's blog post properly shook them up and they went back to the drawing board for season 3 and beyond to change stuff that he hinted would definitely not go over well. Otherwise I feel like the season 3 pitch would have been ready by now.
