‘House of the Dragon’ showrunner Ryan Condal on why Rhaena replaced the book character Nettles’ storyline on the show
“It just felt to us that because again, this story is told in point of view, that it felt more apt as this is a family story to where we had the opportunity to… pic.twitter.com/YQx4KQ9WAy
— Thrones Updates (@ThronesUpdates) June 23, 2026
House of the Dragons showrunner Ryan Condal explained why he cut out Nettles from ‘Fire and Blood’ and merged her storyline with Rhaena’s.
“It felt more apt as this is a family story to where we had the opportunity to involve one of the family members in the storyline.” Condal said. “It felt like that was a character that we had already set this long runway for that it could be very satisfying for the TV audience that didn’t have an experience with the book at all to see that character claim a dragon.”
In the original book ‘Fire and Blood’ Nettles was a bastard girl with no Targaryen ancestry who was able tame a wild dragon by bringing it sheep. She goes on to become an important figure during the Dance of the Dragons [Book spoiler]and later grows close with Daemon Targaryen which brings her into conflict with Rhaenyra.
Nettles was a fan favorite character in the book and the optics over removing the only Black character in the original story by merging her with another has caused some controversy.
Giving Nettles’ storyline to Rhaena so they wouldn’t have to cast one more Black girl was crazy work and also what are they going to do about Morning
— Pink Stanley Cup (@ASamantha) June 22, 2026
it’s frustrating bc part of nettles importance is her lack of obvious valyrian ancestry— her ability to claim a dragon could undermine targ claims of blood superiority. it truly feels like they just saw two black characters and decided they were interchangeable entirely. https://t.co/YGDnoKky4C
— v(alarr’s second wife) (@unsteadydragon) June 23, 2026
but Nettles’ storyline fundamentally does not WORK if she is part of the family because it is the story of a poor outsider teenager who finds herself (through merit, most likely) amongst the Targaryens
the storyline cannot work for Rhaena because she is a princess… sigh https://t.co/ZVelgr3lFo
— soph 🇵🇸 (@sunfyred) June 23, 2026
