House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has given fans a lot to look forward to after discussing the upcoming second season of the HBO series with one of the show’s stars at an industry event. His comments about the next season have fans in the competitive genre.
House of the Dragon, the first spin-off of HBO Max’s hit series Game of Thrones, based on the series A Song of Ice and Fire by fantasy author George R.R. Martin, House of the Dragon Also adapted from his 2018 novel Fire and Blood. Set nearly 2 centuries before the original series, House of the Dragon tells the story of the slow and tragic collapse of House Targaryen, transforming them from rulers of the Seven Kingdoms to Brought to the state seen at the beginning of Game of Thrones. The series was a huge success, with House of the Dragon premiere becoming the highest-grossing debut episode in HBO history.
The premiere was such a success that “House of the Dragon” was renewed for a second season less than a week after the first episode aired, with showrunner Ryan Condal working on the next episode as quickly as possible. During a Contenders TV event hosted by Deadline, executive producers revealed that the second season is more in line with fan expectations. “I’m excited to pick up where we left off. Now we’re moving to a more traditional storytelling and Game of Thrones pacing,” Condal promises. “We’ve been talking about this particular story, and George [R.R. Martin] has it too, is it a Shakespeare or a Greek tragedy. The series is mostly about a house being torn from the inside. Now that all that’s set up, I’m really happy To be able to tell the next chapter and see what happens when Viserys is gone and stop being silent about things.”
Viserys’ exit from the first season was one of the strongest moments, so emotionally charged that Paddy Constantine, the actor behind the character, wept over the character’s fate in House of the Dragon. It’s also important for understanding the narrative potential of season two. Speaking of which, Condal admits, “The trick was really to show this intergenerational conflict that started with Viserys’ generation. He and Otto Hightower, his hand, as they grew up and Rhaenyra and Alicent had their own children. This fierce competition for power was passed on to their children. It’s a story that spans three generations and we needed to finish it in one season so we could continue to make ” A Dance with Dragons.”
A Dance with Dragons is the most pivotal installment in the series, and the promise of a more Game of Thrones-like approach (and no more time to jump) is more than enough fuel to fuel a healthy fire of fan interest already. While Condal has previously expressed optimism for a later 2023 release, series star Evan Mitchell estimates House of the Dragon season 2 will take eight months to produce. However, this seems unlikely at the moment. The postponement will once again see the show compete with Amazon’s Prime Video fantasy series Ring of Thrones, with which House of the Dragon previously competed.
Season 1 of House of the Dragon is available on HBO Max.