The second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, is scheduled to begin filming very soon, and Deadline has learned that the show's sophomore run will be slightly shorter than its first.
According to the trade (via SFFGazette.com), House of the Dragon season 2 will consist of eight episodes - two fewer than the critically-acclaimed debut season, which concluded last November.
This development comes amid recent belt-tightening measures at HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, although the decision to go with a shortened second season is believed to be more story-driven.
House of the Dragon’s creative team are said to be planning for the series to run for 3 or 4 seasons. Season 3 has been "mapped out and may be greenlighted with HBO seriously considering committing to moving ahead with scripts, casting and a production plan as the network too is trying to think long-term instead of season-to-season."
Apparently, "a portion of the plot originally intended for Season 2, including a major battle," is now being saved for season 3.
If we had to hazard a guess, this battle is likely the culmination of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of Dragons, which will see two major characters clash in a mid-air skirmish much like the last moments of the season 1 finale - but with a very different outcome.
If you haven't watched the first season of House of the Dragon yet, spoilers follow.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.