With House of the Dragon having recently concluded its first season, and with filming on the second yet to start, fans have been expecting a long wait before they see House Targaryen on their screens once again. According to showrunner Ryan Condal, however, there's still hope for a release within the next year.
House of the Dragon's season finale ended on a huge cliffhanger. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) lost control of Vhagar, the old she-dragon took a bite right out of Arrax and killed Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). When word reached Lucerys' mother, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), she had war in her eyes. The Dance of the Dragons is now an inevitability. Rhaenyra was trying to make peace diplomatically, but the murder of her son forced her hand and she will be bringing Fire & Blood down on her enemies.
According to a report on the show's second season, which features quotes by Ryan Condal, conducted by GQ, the hit series will begin filming its sophomore season next year, and that season could still debut within the same year. Condal is serving as sole showrunner next season after House of the Dragon co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik stepped down ahead of season 2. “The show definitely has to expand its scope in the second season. I think those will continue to be the home bases for the show. But a war is coming that requires allegiances from different kingdoms and armies all over the map of Westeros. I don't think we're going to get quite as vast as the original Game of Thrones did in its final analysis,” he said, while teasing "new worlds" for season 2. “Rest assured, plenty of scope to come.”
It is no surprise that HBO would want House of the Dragon out as soon as possible. House of the Dragon recently boasted such successes as having the biggest finale viewership for HBO since Game of Thrones ended. It also had an average of 29 million viewers per episode, which is on par with some of Game of Thrones' later seasons, a show which famously grew its base with every season. The success stems from a premiere that reportedly crashed HBO Max apps, much to the chagrin of fans.
With more Game of Thrones spin-offs to come, House of the Dragon's second season release may also be hastened to make room in the release schedule for these other projects. Much like the MCU, the network will need to schedule its projects carefully, so they don't inspire fatigue and don't have to compete with one another. That may be a tall order, considering the high production values inherent to each show, and the number of effects that will go into all of them.
House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: GQ