While season 2 of House of the Dragon will end on Sunday night at Monday, its showrunner reveals why we'll have to be patient before season 3.
House of the Dragon: the reasons for the wait
If season 8 of Game of Thrones has deeply divided fans of the series, its first spin-off House of the Dragon was able to reconcile them from its first season thanks to the mastery of its tragic writing, but also its careful staging and its inhabited interpreters. Launched on June 16, 2024, season 2 returned to the slow burn rhythm of the first four seasons of Game of Thrones, while offering viewers some highlights, such as the Siege of Rooksrest and the Red Seeding.If some fans didn't appreciate it, Daemon Targaryen's arc Harrenhal, openly inspired by of this horror classic, let us agree however that as a whole, the season was of great quality.
The main objective of the second season was to prepare for the Dance of the Dragons, by recounting the first offensives (the Battle of Moulin Brûlé, the Sac of Sombreval, the Siege of Repos-des-Freux), season 3 officially ordered by HBO will have for mission to recount the many reversals of the war and some of the most important battles of the Dance of Dragons, such as the Battle of Mead, the Battle of the Throat or the Butcher's Ball. The coming season will undoubtedly be epic, and there will be many losses for both the Blacks and the Greens.
But when will season 3 be released? A thorny question. Indeed, while statements by Matt Smith could have led to hopes of an earlier release than expected, showrunner Ryan Condal has dampened the hopes of the most impatient fans. Questioned by our colleagues at Première, the screenwriter confessed: “I would like there to be a solution so that we can release a new season every year. But that's not actually possible.” After explaining that we can expect a release probably in 2026, he details the reasons why the production of a season of House of the Dragon takes so long.
“Just to film, it takes a year of preparation and shooting. And then you add six months for post-production and there you have it, 18 months… We can save time on some elements, like writing, which can start during post-production. That's what we're doing right now. We're finishing post-production on season 2 and we're writing season 3 of House of the Dragon at the same time…”
The showrunner considers that the wait between seasons of House of the Dragon is not a problem since This is the sine qua non condition for making “an event series“. Ryan Condal makes a connection to Denis Villeneuve's two Dune films, coming out in 2021 and 2024. “Nobody is acting because Denis Villeneuve takes two or three years to make a new Dune film. We know why. And making a series the size of Game of Thrones is like making several event films in one season.”
While some fans will be surprised by the fact that there is a two-year wait between two seasons of House of the Dragon when it only took one between two seasons of Game of Thrones, let's remember that the adaptation of Fire & Bloodis a little more complicated: in fact, since the book is written as a historical chronicle, there is no interiority of the characters, and a lot of writing work is necessary to give them depth. This is the reason why George R.R. Martin considered that the version of Viserys I Targaryen is better in House of the Dragon than in the book. Another character, who gains in intensity in season 2, received the same praise from the writer.
Moreover, the release in 2025 of the second spin-off of Game of Thrones, entitled A Knight of the Seven Kingdomsand adapted from the Chronicles of the Knight Errant, should help fans wait before diving back into the Dance of Dragons. We are also impatient to discover the adventures of Dunk and the Egg, whose first image has been revealed.