… the bad news? This is all part of HBO’s “long-term plan” for the hit prequel series, which also entails a shorter season 2. Still, I suppose the guarantee of House of the Dragon season 3 is worth the sacrifice.
According to Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva, the sophomore instalment that’s “likely” to premiere in mid-2024 will have two fewer episodes than House of the Dragon, meaning the next part of the story is being spread across what will hopefully be eight action-packed episodes.
“I hear the initial plan was for another 10-episode arc, which eventually changed, leading to some script rewrites. Given the leadership change at HBO’s parent company, some pointed at Warner Bros. Discovery leadership’s focus on cost-cutting. An HBO spokesperson, who confirmed to Deadline that season 2 will contain eight episodes, stressed that the episode count trim was story-driven,” explained Andreeva.
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Andreeva added: “With a portion of the plot originally intended for season 2 (including a major battle) moving to season 3, I hear it is now more likely that the series would run for four seasons.
“But that has not been determined as [executive producer-showrunner Ryan] Condal and [book author/executive producer George R.R.] Martin continue to go back-and-forth on the number of seasons that would be optimal to tell the full story, sources said.”
In the past, there have been reassurances from the creative team behind House of the Dragon that four or five seasons were on the cards.
“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,” George R. R. Martin noted in a blog post published last October.
“But right now, Ryan Condal’s focus is on House of the Dragon season 2, and mine is on [the long overdue] The Winds of Winter.”
Outside of House of the Dragon season 2 and House of the Dragon season 3, HBO plans to expand the Game of Thrones universe with multiple spin-off properties, including one about Jon Snow hailing the return of Kit Harington (working title: SNOW).
As reported back in June 2022, the forthcoming sequel will pick things up immediately after the original series’ finale. To refresh your memories, Jon returns to Castle Black after being sentenced to serve with the Night’s Watch for the remainder of his days; leading the wildlings back to their lands beyond the Wall during the critically-panned episode’s close.
“I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly,” Kit Harington said of his character post-series finale during a panel session at the recent Game of Thrones convention in LA (via Deadline).
“At the end of the show when we find him in that cell, he’s preparing to be beheaded and he wants to be. He’s done. The fact he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse.”
Harington added: “He’s got to go back up to the place with all this history and live out his life thinking about how he killed [Daenerys Targaryen] (Emilia Clarke), and live out his life thinking about Ygritte (Rose Leslie) dying in his arms, and live out his life thinking about how he hung Olly (Brenock O’Connor), and live out his life thinking about all of this trauma, and that… that’s interesting.”
So where exactly does this leave our fallen hero? Without giving away too much – or anything tangible, for that matter – Kit Harington gave us an insight into the actual King That Was Promised/faux bastard/secret Targaryen’s state of mind…
“So I think where we leave him at the end of the show, there’s always this feeling of like… I think we wanted some kind of little smile that things are OK. He’s not OK.”
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In addition to this, HBO has three live-action Game of Thrones projects on the boilerplate, all in various stages of development:
- 10,000 Ships (AKA Nymeria) with showrunner Amanda Segel
- 9 Voyages (AKA The Sea Snake) steered by showrunner Bruno Heller
- Dunk & Egg, currently being helmed by showrunner Steve Conrad
Furthermore, there’ll also be three animated prequels including The Golden Empire, which is apparently “set in the China-inspired land of Yi Ti.”
Keep an eye out here for future updates on House of the Dragon season 3.
