House of the Dragon season 2 clocked in at only 8 episodes compared to the first season's 10, for many fans, the whole thing felt a little like filler. The finale wasn't the most exciting and there's been some concern that HBO might be stretching the story out to capitalise on the franchise's popularity.
Well, showrunner Ryan Condal has now confirmed (via SFFGazette.com) that the Game of Thrones prequel will end with season 4. He also revealed that production on season 3 begins in "earlyish 2025," suggesting we have a two-year wait - at least - for the next batch of episodes.
As for whether that will feature a higher episode count, Condal said, "I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it. I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from a dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from Season 2 on."
He then addressed the decision to push the bloody Battle of the Gullet between the Blacks and Greens to season 3, a move which upset many fans eager to see that on screen.
"As a showrunner you are always in a position of having to balance storytelling and resources you have available to tell that story," Condal explained. "We are also starting to think about, what is the final destination of this series and where are we going? A combination of factors led to that re-balance."
"There is a tremendous amount of resources, construction, armor, costumes and visual affects needed to give the Gullet, which is arguably the second most anticipated action even to Fire and Blood, the time and the space it deserved. We are building to that event. It will happen very shortly in terms of storytelling."
"It will be the biggest thing to date we have pulled off. We want to have the time and space to do that at a level that will excite the fans," he concluded.
On the plus side, while season 3 of House of the Dragon felt rather uneventful, Condal is confident that the stakes will increase significantly when the series returns given the material they've yet to adapt
"There are so many great events that we are already writing in season 3 as it is," he teased. "This war really comes to a big head at this point in the storytelling. I mean, if you look at season 2, it’s largely a metaphor for a nuclear conflict."
"There’s gonna be giant moments of spectacle but real moments of surprise and character nuance that we’re very much looking forward to. Some of my favorite moments of in the book, as a reader, I’m excited to adapt as a dramatist."
It's good to know that the show's creative team has an end point in sight as it means this story can be told in its entirety and not dragged out to a point where even the most loyal Westeros fans lose interest.
Stay tuned for more on House of the Dragon as we have it.