George R.R. Martin said as much back in 2022: House of the Dragon is a four-season show. Of course, he said it would need “four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons,” and season two—which just ended—ran only eight episodes. But four is indeed still the plan, confirms showrunner Ryan Condal.
Variety reports that at a press conference held earlier today to mark the end of House of the Dragon‘s season, Condal said the show will end after season four. (HBO has renewed the show for a third season; a fourth is not yet official.) The showrunner also said “earlyish 2025” is the time frame for a production start date; season three is still being written. “How many episodes?” is the obvious next question; Condal’s response: “I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it, I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from season two on.”
While House of the Dragon has made some changes from its source material—Martin’s Fire & Blood Targaryen history—it won’t have the problem that Game of Thrones had, in which the show’s storyline progressed beyond Martin’s own narrative. And with a clear end in sight—something Condal already has in mind—it feels like House of the Dragon is poised to find a more satisfying conclusion than its predecessor did.
Still, that means seasons three and four had better be action-packed to handle all the messy Targaryen business to come. If “earlyish 2025” is when production is starting, it’s likely House of the Dragon won’t return to HBO and Max until 2026 at the earliest.
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