'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Fate Revealed at HBO
The history of House Targaryen will continue to unfold. Just a week into its 10-episode debut season, and just days ahead of Episode 2, "The Rogue Prince," on Sunday, HBO on Friday renewed House of the Dragon for Season 2.
The early renewal comes as little surprise. Premiering on Sunday, Aug. 21, House of the Dragon's debut episode, "The Heirs of the Dragon," drew 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms in the U.S. Sunday, making it the largest audience for any new original series in the history of pay cabler. That number has since soared to more than 20 million in the U.S. The series also earned rave reviews from critics, who gave House of the Dragon an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score.
"We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one," Francesca Orsi, EVP, HBO Programming, said of the renewal. Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. A huge thank you to George, Ryan, and Miguel for leading us on this journey. We couldn't be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two."
At this time, details about the upcoming season remain limited. HBO did not say how many episodes will be in the second season or when Season 2 will debut. Season 1 is not set to wrap until Sunday, Oct. 23, and The Hollywood Reporter notes that the debut season took 10 months of filming in addition to an ample amount of postproduction visual effects work, which began in January and is still ongoing. Given these time periods, it seems likely that a 2024 premiere date is plausible.
Based on George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon acts as a sequel to Game of Thrones, which ended in May 2019, and is set approximately 200 years before the events of the main series. The show focuses on House Targaryen's rule over Westeros, starting with its high point and extending into one of its darkest chapters. Co-created by Martin and Ryan Condal, who serves as co-showrunner with Miguel Sapochnik, who also directs, it stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans, among others. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.