“House Of The Dragon” season two ended last night on HBO, Sunday, August 4, and some fans were left with mixed feelings. The finale was dubbed “anticlimactic” by a Variety review—no major battles, no significant deaths— but many suggested this was the point of building anticipation. Additionally, historically, “Game Of Thrones” used the same approach; its bigger battles were in the penultimate and antepenultimate episodes, and its finales were left for brooding, licking wounds, and the more fantastic wars to come.
But regardless of some disappointment, fans are already clamoring for information about what comes next and when. Well, not only has “House of the Dragon,” showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal teased when season three is coming (likely early 2026, given its every two years schedule), but he’s revealed that the entire series will likely end with season four. “No, I think it’s four,” he responded when asked if the fantasy drama would run five seasons.
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Condal revealed that a third season is currently being written and that the plan is to go into production in “earlyish 2025.” Asked whether it would return to ten episodes again—season two had only eight—Condal said he wasn’t sure yet but did suggest the new shorter format would be the way forward.
“I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it. I would just anticipate that the cadence of the show, from a dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from Season two on.”
In one of his personal blog posts early on, original “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin, who is also co-creator of “House of the Dragon,” said four seasons would be necessary to tell the whole tale, so this length in keeping with that prediction.
Condal wouldn’t say much about what’s to come in season three, but the end of season two did tease the return of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) — the former Hand of the King and Alicent’s father. “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,” he said suggestively.
With an early 2025 shoot, the big and expansive third season of “House Of The Dragon” is not expected to return until early 2026—the enormity of the scale of the series means it requires much time and VFX to put together.
“I know everybody wants this to come out every summer. It’s just that the show is so complex that we’re really making multiple feature films every season,” Condal said in a press conference for the finale on Sunday night (via The Wrap), hinting at the wait to come. “So I apologize for the wait, but I will just say if Rooks Rest and the Red Sowing were good, then the team that we have together… we’re gonna pull off a hell of a win, The Battle of the Gullet.”
The showrunner even defended the finale’s mellowness in the press conference. The Battle of the Gullet was pushed to season three, and Condal suggested that’s just the nature of the logistical beast.
“One of the challenges of making television at any scale nobody has infinite time and resources,” he said via THR. “When you’re a showrunner, you’re always in the position of having to balance storytelling and the resources that you have available to tell that story. One of the things that came into play in season two is: What is the final destination of the series, and where are we going? It was a combination of factors that led us to rebalance the season knowing now where we’re going. We wanted to rebalance the story in such a way that we had three great seasons of television [after season one] to round out and tell this story. When you’re trying to mount the show, which requires a tremendous amount of resources, construction, armor, costumes, and visual effects … we are trying to give The Gullet — which is arguably the second most anticipated action event of ‘Fire and Blood’— trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves.”
“House Of The Dragon” season one debuted in August of 2022; season two premiered just shy of tune years later on June 16 of this year. Following last night’s finale, HBO launched an upcoming sizzle reel that also gave viewers at the next “Game Of Thrones” spin-off, titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” While no release date was given, the teaser revealed the series will arrive sometime in 2025.