Season 2 of HBO’s House of the Dragon is reportedly expected to wrap filming earlier than it did for Season 1.
According to Redanian Intelligence, House of the Dragon Season 2 is expected to wrap filming between September and October 2023 after having filmed for only 5 or 6 months, which amounts to half the time it took to film Season 1.While this report estimates that the second season of House of the Dragon will take nearly half the time to complete than the first, this time frame is compounded by the fact that Season 1 was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and consisted of 10 episodes instead of eight.
It was confirmed in March that the second season should be shorter than Season 1, with the episode count apparently part of HBO’s long-term plans for the Game of Thrones prequel series, which is already being considered for a Season 3 renewal.Based on the novel Fire & Blood written by George RR Martin, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of the original HBO series Game of Thrones and follows the rise and fall of House Targaryen. Reportedly, it has always been part of the plan for House of the Dragon to have a three-to-four-season run.
HBO’s House of the Dragon Looks Toward Season 3
Martin has explained that House of the Dragon will need four seasons to adequately tell the full story of the Targaryen civil war, known as the Dance of the Dragons. However, he noted that if the show had 13 episodes each season, it would be “too slow.” He said, “As it is, I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tales, 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.”
In a previous interview, showrunner Ryan Condal described Season 2 of House of the Dragon as a more “traditional” Game of Thrones story. “This series is very much about a house tearing itself apart from within,” he said. “Now that all those pieces have been set on the board, I’m really excited to tell the next chapter, to see what happens now that Viserys is gone and no longer keeping a lid on things.”
All episodes of House of the Dragon are available to stream on HBO Max. Season 2 does not yet have a release date, though it is expected to premiere on the streaming service sometime in mid-2024.