House of the Dragon has saved the Game of Thrones franchise and delivers exactly what GoT fans long for; dirty politics, bloodshed, dragons and honour. House of the Dragon has recently concluded its first season, with the series at the brink of a major Targaryen civil war. However, no matter how glorious the battles look and how realistic the dragons have been made, fans still are not fully satisfied with HBO’s work.

One common criticism was that parts of the later episode of House of the Dragon appeared dark. Mostly noticed in episode seven, the darkness was a factor in many scenes in the season finale as well. The word “gloomy” was frequently used by HOTD fans online. Is the look that was established with the first season going to be maintained in the future?

House of the Dragon Writer Ryan Condal Explains The Dark Scenes

Because episode 7 of ‘House of the Dragon’ showcased very poorly lit visuals (and it continued from then), fans were outraged. Similar concerns were raised during the eighth and final season of ‘Game of Thrones, during the episode ‘The Long Night.’ The same person directed both episodes of ‘Game of Thrones and episode seven of ‘House of the Dragon,’ Emmy winner Miguel Sapochnik, so we can understand the continuity here.

Ryan Condal, along with other showrunners will definitely check on the visual continuity of House of the Dragon in later seasons. Although they may start relying on ‘StageCraft’, a 360° LED screen background, instead of a green screen, Ryan Condal has made it very clear that they will not be completely dependent on just one technology, but will explore the best visual apparatus necessary.

Ryan Condal acknowledges the darkness in the scenes of House of the Dragon as fans complain, however, he has a good explanation for this. Visual stuff is pretty tricky, especially when the series is being released onto a million different TV sets, with different display calibrations and settings. Due to this, colour changes are observed. It’s hard to account for all the different televisions and their calibrations and sometimes the film file can get compressed. So the show can look very different from the thing that was originally approved.

Is Ryan Condal Justifying The Dark Scenes?

Ryan Condal is not trying to justify his doings, but simply lay down the facts as to why this issue was faced. To elaborate on his points, Ryan Condal, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, said:

“But look: It’s our job to take all that into account. These are one of the things that you learn in the making of a show – you take that knowledge into account when making season two and say, ‘How can we do better?’ The feedback was certainly heard. I get it. And we want the show to be a great viewing experience for everybody.”