Send a raven: It’s finally been confirmed how many seasons HBO’s “House of the Dragon” will run.
During a press conference on Monday discussing the Season 2 finale of “House of the Dragon,” showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal revealed that the “Game of Thrones” prequel will include two more seasons, and will conclude with Season 4.
Condal also confirmed that the third season is currently being written, they will be doing prep for it in the fall, with the plan to go into production in “earlyish 2025.” When asked whether Season 3 will also be eight episodes, as its second season was, Condal said: “I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it. I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from a dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from Season 2 on.”
“A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin, who is co-creator on “House of the Dragon,” has previously stated on his personal blog that he believes it would take four seasons of 10 episodes each to tell the show’s “Dance of the Dragons” story from his “Fire & Blood” book. But up until now, HBO had not confirmed how many seasons “House of the Dragon” would be.
HBO’s adaptation of Martin’s “Game of Thrones” — based on his still-not-concluded “A Song of Ice and Fire” series — ran for eight seasons from 2011-2019. Currently, the premium cable channel is in production on another “Game of Thrones” prequel, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which is based on Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg,” and takes place 100 years before the events of “Game of Thrones.”
Elsewhere during the Monday presser, Condal addressed why the Season 2 finale, which aired on Aug. 4, didn’t include the Battle of the Gullet, an iconic story beat from “Fire & Blood” that is the logical next point in the “House of the Dragon” plot.
“We we were trying to give the Gullet, which is arguably the most anticipated — well, I would say maybe the second-most-anticipated — action event of ‘Fire & Blood,’ trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves,” Condal said. “Obviously, as anybody that’s seen the finale, we’re building to that event. That event will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling of ‘House of the Dragon.’
“Based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing to date that we’ve pulled off,” Condal said. “And we just wanted to have the time, the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans and in the way it’s deserved.”
The “House of the Dragon” boss says the team “also wanted to build some anticipation toward it,” further detailing why Season 2 didn’t end with the Battle of the Gullet.
“I know everybody wants this to come out every summer,” Condal said. “It’s just that the show is so complex that we’re really making multiple feature films every season. So I apologize for the wait, but I will just say if Rook’s Rest and the Red Sowing are any indication, we’re gonna pull off a hell of a win with the Battle the Gullet in the future.”
Condal also teased why Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) — the former Hand of the King, and Alicent’s father — was seen briefly among the Season 2 finale’s last images, seemingly imprisoned — a departure from “Fire & Blood.” Condal deflected on giving specifics on what that glimpse of the character meant, saying those answers will have to wait until Season 3, adding, “We were delighted to have Rhys reenter the story, and I will just say that the Otto Hightower tale has not yet come to an end.”
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