“House of the Dragon” will see a smaller episode order for season 2 but HBO is currently already targeting a third season renewal for the series…
“House of the Dragon” will be back for season 2 but with less episodes than originally expected.
It was reported on Tuesday that the hugely popular “Game of Thrones” spinoff would be trimmed down from 10 episodes to 8 episodes for the second season, which is expected to get into production soon with hopes that the show would return in mid-2024.
While there was no specific episode count announced when “House of the Dragon” was renewed for season 2, the expectation was 10 episodes to mirror the first season.
According to reports, the episode count changed due to creative plans for the series rather than a cost-cutting measure at Warner Bros. Discovery as the studio continues to look for money saving measures, which includes spending less cash on high profile TV series. That said, “House of the Dragon” remains a priority for HBO after the “Game of Thrones” spinoff earned huge ratings for the first season before eventually earning a surprising Golden Globe award for Best Drama Series this past year.
While the episode count for season 2 has changed, HBO is currently looking at an early season 3 renewal for “House of the Dragon” so scripts can be written and casting started before the second season has even wrapped up production.
When “House of the Dragon” first launched, showrunner Ryan Condal and “Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin envisioned a four-season run for the spinoff series, which is based on Martin’s book ‘Fire and Blood.” Martin previously addressed his hopes for the series while specifically mentioning 40 total episodes required to tell his story properly.
“I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tale,” Martin said in a blog post “I hope that will continue to be true. It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish.”
It’s not clear what exactly changed with “House of the Dragon” season 2 losing two episodes but all signs indicate that Condal, Martin and company are now plotting a three or four season run of the series, although a final decision about the length of the show won’t be made just yet. Plans for season 2 also changed with a major battle shifting to season 3, which could also start to explain whether or not the show will ultimately only run three seasons or extend out to four seasons in total.
Obviously some “Game of Thrones” fans might start hitting the panic button after hearing this news, especially after what happened to the original series, which also started at 10 episodes per season. Eventually, “Game of Thrones” came to a close with season 7 only consisting of seven episodes and the final season numbering only six episodes.
Many longtime fans of the show — including our reviews — felt like “Game of Thrones” rushed towards a conclusion, which affected the overall pace, story and character development that defined the show over six previous seasons.
We won’t find out more about “House of the Dragon” season 2 until at least sometime in 2024 with fans anxiously awaiting the next stage in the Targaryen civil war.
H/T: Deadline
