Daeron Targaryen cut from House of the Dragon season 1 scripts

The first season of HBO's Game of Thrones spinoff series House of the Dragon is adapted from George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. House of the Dragon sticks pretty close to the source material, which is impressive given what an unorthodox kind of book Fire & Blood is. But things do get dropped, including the character of Daeron Targaryen.

In the book, Daeron Targaryen is the fourth and youngest son of King Viserys I Targaryen and his queen Alicent Hightower. House of the Dragon includes their eldest three kids: Aegon II Targaryen, who now sits the Iron Throne; Helaena Targaryen, his sister-wife (ew, I know) and Daeron Targaryen, a dragon-rider with an eyepatch an a huge chip on his shoulder. But Daeron, who in the book is described as the most agreeable and affable of the sons, was nowhere to be seen.

Does this mean that Daeron is cut from the show? Maybe. However, fans of the book were holding out hope that he could show up in season 2, and they had a good textual reason for keeping hope alive: in the book, Daeron is sent at a young age to be fostered in Oldtown, the home town of his mother Alicent Hightower and grandfather Otto Hightower. So his absence didn't necessarily mean he's gone, just that he's offscreen for now.

However, the fact that they didn't even mention Daeron's existence at any point didn't bode well. Now, it looks like Daeron was mentioned in the original script for Episode 7, "Driftmark," but that it was cut.

Will Daeron Targaryen show up on House of the Dragon?

For a while now, the Twitter user @darksvster has been sharing pages from the scripts for House of the Dragon season 1 online, including bits of dialogue that didn't make it into the final episodes. Such is the case with this drop, where a young Aemond Targaryen talks to his grandfather Otto about the missing Daeron. Recall that, in this episode, both sides of the family have gathered on the island of Driftmark for the funeral of Laena Velaryon, who died in childbirth the episode prior:

• Otto: "What is it lad?"
• Aemond: "I was hoping my younger brother might have joined you..."
• Otto: "Daeron's place is in Oldtown."
• Aemond: "How does he fare?"
• Otto: "Daeron grows like any squire would under your uncle, Robert. Thick of skin."

Some fans might read this and take it as proof that Daeron is coming to House of the Dragon sooner or later; that seems to be what George R.R. Martin is hoping. But I think it's more likely that they cut this line — and any other line that might have referred to him — because they don't intend to feature Daeron at all. I could be wrong, but that's my sense.

Maybe the show will surprise us when House of the Dragon returns for its second season in June.

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