'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Premiere Date Revealed

House of the Dragon Season 2 will premiere in the summer of 2024, according to HBO executive Casey Bloys. Previously, HBO only said that the Game of Thrones prequel would return sometime in 2024, with the best-educated guesses pointing to either late summer or early fall. On. Thursday, Bloys spoke to the press at an event in New York City where he revealed many new details – including the premiere window.

"They are done shooting and in post. We hope to have that early summer," Bloys said. House of the Dragon was able to continue shooting throughout the Hollywood labor strikes this year because it is a production of the U.K.'s actor union, Equity, not the U.S.'s SAG-AFTRA. That may put it in a strong position next year when many other shows are trying to catch up after the work stoppage. The series is also poised to overcome most fans' biggest gripes about Season 1 simply by the nature of the story, which will now take place at one point in time instead of juggling flash-forwards.

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood – a fictional history book to accompany his novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into Game of Thrones. Martin has written on his blog that he has more chances to give creative input on this series than he did on the previous one, though he is not writing any scripts himself and is focused on finishing his books. He also explained how the show finished filming without writers during the WGA strike earlier this summer.

"The scripts for the eight s2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began," Martin wrote on his blog. "Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. There will be no further revisions. The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew... and of course the dragons."

House of the Dragon Season 2 will continue to star Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and Olivia Cooke as Lady Alicent Hightower, along with most of the characters that surrounded them at the end of Season 1. So far, four new cast members have been announced for the upcoming season – Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower, Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers and Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull. The season will also need to introduce several new dragons as the war for the Iron Throne heats up.

Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon Season 1 are streaming now on Max. Season 2 is expected sometime in "early summer" of 2024. In the meantime, Martin's books are available in print, digital and audiobook formats.