House of the Dragon‘s book changes may not be over, with a new rumor teasing a major switch to part of House Targaryen’s story in Season 3. The Game of Thrones prequel has not been afraid to deviate from the source material, Fire & Blood, across the 18 episodes released so far. In fact, even George R.R. Martin responded to House of the Dragon‘s changes after the second season, with a since-deleted blog post criticising some of the decisions. Of course, any adaptation has to choose to do what’s best for the story on screen, and so it’ll be no surprise if there are more alterations in the upcoming third season. Warning: Contains potential spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3.
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One of those changes may have been revealed by @housethedragons on X, and it builds on top of another rumor. Previously, it’d been suggested that Daeron Targaryen – the child of Alicent Hightower and Viserys Targaryen, who will make his debut in Season 3 – would be captured by or surrender to Daemon Targaryen, with photos ostensibly revealing them together on set. That itself was a significant departure from Fire & Blood, where no such event occurs, but it might not be the full story. The latest rumor is that there are actually two actors playing Daeron: one a “fake” version who is given up to Daemon (played by Charlie Gordon), and then the real version (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth).
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As with any rumor, this needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. There’s nothing official, and there might never be. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting one to think about, because it is such a departure from the book. Still, it’s possible to pull off one part of it, at least. After all, Daeron has mostly grown up away from King’s Landing; that makes it very unlikely Daemon, or even Rhaenyra, would know what he looks like now that he’s older. And so if a boy is presented as being Daeron, is of the right age, looks Valyrian, and can act the part of a Targaryen prince, they probably would accept it.
Character fakeouts and switch-ups aren’t brand-new to A Song of Ice and Fire. In the books, for instance, it’s Sansa Stark’s friend Jeyne Poole who is married off to Ramsay Bolton, under the pretense of her being Arya Stark. Meanwhile, one of the biggest points of speculation heading into The Winds of Winter is regarding the true identity of Young Griff, who claims to be Aegon Targaryen, firstborn son of Rhaegar. There are strong theories that he’s actually a fake, which could well come to pass. Neither of those made it into Game of Thrones, but House of the Dragon could be taking some loose inspiration.
Still, it’s not without its drawbacks. Daeron has a dragon of his own, Tessarion, and it’s unclear how she would fit into this: she’d obviously know who the real Daeron is, so would need to be either somehow kept out of events by Team Green, or taken out by Team Black. But there is also a bigger question: why do it at all? Changing the book isn’t inherently a bad thing, but Daeron has a pretty clear story to adapt from the source material, with actions that even earn him the nickname “The Daring.” It seems as though the show is trying to give Daemon more to do, but this does feel like it could complicate things unnecessarily and fuel further backlash.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is currently filming, and is expected to air on HBO and HBO Max in summer 2026.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm.
