House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, will end after four seasons, according to series co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal.
Condal said during a press conference on Monday, a day after the second season finale aired, that the third series is in the writing process. Variety reported on Monday.
Condal said pre-production work on the series will continue this fall, with a production date planned for early next year.
The show’s first season had 10 episodes, and the second, eight. When asked how many episodes the third season will have, Condal said: “I haven’t had any conversations with HBO about it.
“I just hope that the cadence of the show, from a dramatic narrative perspective, remains the same going into Season 2.”
HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is coming to an end after four seasons, according to series co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal. Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) appears in the second season of the series
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is played by Emma D’Arcy in the Game of Thrones prequel
Novelist George R.R. Martin, co-creator of the Game of Thrones spin-off, he said on his blog in October 2022 that “it will take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice” to the story.
Game of Thrones, which is based on Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire, ran for eight seasons on HBO between 2011 and 2019.
The cable network is also working on an adaptation of Martin’s Dunk and Egg tales called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This is another Game of Thrones prequel, set 100 years before the events of the original series.
Condal explained on Monday why the HOTD season two finale that aired on Sunday did not feature a story based on the Battle of Gullet.
“We were trying to give Gullet, which is arguably the most anticipated action event – well, I’d say maybe the second most anticipated – of Fire & Blood, the time and space it deserves,” Condal said.
He noted that he and his creative team remain “prepared for that event,” which he said “will happen very soon in terms of the narrative of House of the Dragon.”
Condal said: “Based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing we’ve ever achieved and we just wanted to have the time and space to do it at a level that would excite and satisfy the fans and in the way it deserves.”
Condal said he and his collaborators “also wanted to create some anticipation toward” the Battle of the Esophagus within the plot of the series.
Fans of the series, some in costume, were photographed in London for the premiere of the show’s second season in June.
Series co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal, pictured in Paris in June, spoke about the show’s future at a press conference on Monday.
“I know everyone wants this to come out every summer,” he said. “It’s just that the show is so complex that we’re really doing multiple feature films every season.”
‘I apologize for the wait, but I’ll just say that if Rook’s Rest and Red Sowing are any indication, we’ll be scoring a big win with Battle the Gullet down the road.’
Condal also spoke on Monday about the fate of one specific character, Otto Hightower (played by Rhys Ifans), who was seen briefly in Sunday’s episode.
“We were delighted to have Rhys back in the story, and I’ll just say that Otto Hightower’s story is not over yet,” he said, declining to elaborate.