House of The Dragon showrunner compares Corlys Velaryon to Game of Thrones’ Tywin Lannister

Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon is on everyone’s lips right now, after the recent announcement of the release date by HBO. The series is slated for a release in August, and fans are really hyped up about it. Avid readers of George R. R. Martin’s works are looking forward to seeing some of their favorite characters from the novel Fire and Blood, including Corlys Velaryon, The Sea Snake. However, quite a lot of people are offended by the change in the appearance of Westeros’s most famous seafarer.

House of The Dragon’s showrunner Ryan Condal recently tried to explain why the change was made in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He also went as far as to compare Corlys with Game of Thrones’ Tywin Lannister. He said, “He’s the second richest, second most powerful guy but for the person on the throne,” Condal remarks. “Everybody wants to marry his kids, everybody wants to be in league with him, everybody wants him sitting at their dinner table.”

Both Condal and Miguel Sapochnik felt strongly about featuring a person of color in a powerful position of nobility in the context of the show’s story. In House of the Dragon, they assigned the role to Lord Corlys Velaryon. Condal explains they “didn’t want to do it in a way that felt like it was an afterthought or, worse, tokenism.” They also wanted to avoid the recurring image of people of color showing up in fantasy sagas in the stereotypical roles of pirates, slaves, and mercenaries.

Do you agree with the showrunner’s idea about Corlys Velaryon? Tell us in the comments below!