We've been waiting on this news, but HBO has finally confirmed (via SFFGazette.com) that House of the Dragon season 2 will return to the cable network "early" next summer. HBO and Max CEO and chairman Casey Bloys broke the news at an event for press yesterday where the first trailer was also screened exclusively for those in attendance.
Unfortunately, that hasn't been released online and, as we write this, no descriptions of the footage have found their way online. We're not expecting any either as Variety reveals that those in attendance "are not allowed to report details about the contents of the footage."
Still, the premiere date is good news for Game of Thrones fans as we'd expected the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes to potentially delay the series to late 2024.
Shooting on season 2 started back in April. However, despite reports to the contrary, neither strike affected House of the Dragon. Why? Well, the scripts were completed before WGA members downed tools and the cast is under contract with the UK guild Equity, not SAG-AFTRA.
Back in April, Gayle Rankin, Simon Russell Beale, Freddie Fox, and Abubakar Salim were announced to have joined the show for its second season as Alys Rivers, Ser Simon Strong, Ser Gwayne Hightower and Alyn of Hull, respectively.
Tom Taylor, meanwhile, is thought to have joined the series as Ned Stark's ancestor, Lord Cregan Stark.
Returning cast members include Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower.
It's also been revealed that upcoming spin-off series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, will shoot in spring 2024.
As for why this news has broken now, it may well have something to do with the fact Bloys has been embroiled in controversy in recent days. A lawsuit has revealed the executive used fake Twitter/X accounts to troll TV critics who said anything negative about HBO's shows.
Blaming the pandemic, he said, "I'm home working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter and I come up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration...I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked emails, texts. Obviously, nobody wants to be part of the story that they have nothing to do with. I think that is a probably a much healthier way to go about this."
In other news, The Last of Us season 2 is expected to begin production early next year, while IT prequel Welcome to Derry is eyeing a 2025 launch.
Are you looking forward to House of the Dragon's return to HBO next year?