Production on season two of House of the Dragon is underway. Filming on the eight-episode season began last month, and so far, has not been impacted by the writers strike. Showrunner Ryan Condel is working as a non-writing producer and if anything needs to be reshot or rewritten, it will be handled after the strike, according to Francesca Orsi, the head of drama at HBO.
Starring Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans, the House of the Dragon series is a prequel to Game of Thrones and is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood novel. The story revolves around the origins of the House Targaryen.
Orsi spoke about season two of the fantasy series and its future in a recent press call. The original plan was for four seasons, but the popular show could continue beyond that.
Orsi said the following about the series’ future, per Deadline:
“It hasn’t been finalized yet, it’s still under discussion. [Martin and Condal] are going to meet after the writers strike. They had originally planned to meet before the strike took place and that was to figure out at what point the series itself was going to end. Is it four seasons? I don’t think from where I sit at this point will be any less than four. But could be more. We’ll see.”
As for season two, it will have eight episodes, two fewer than the first season. The reduced order has to do with the needs of the story, per Orsi. She said the following about the shortened season:
“There was some question about the narrative shape of season two. We were developing it with Ryan Condal and [EP] Sara Hess, and we realized that we were sort of treading water narratively in the middle of the season. So it just felt much more rigorous, more urgent emotional arc for our characters if we compressed the season. And then that also dictated how we would kick off season three.”
A 2024 premiere date for season two of House of Dragon will be announced later.
What do you think? Are you excited to see more of this series on HBO?
