HBO Renews ‘House Of The Dragon’ For Second Season

House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel, premiered on HBO on Sunday, August 21st after much anticipation. The drama series is set 200 years prior to the events of Game of Thrones and will follow the House of Targaryen and the brutal civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons that breaks out over the Iron Throne. It is based on George R. R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood. The ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel was just renewed for a second season after its first episode drew 20 million viewers.

The Hollywood Reported noted that the move to renew the blockbuster series came relatively quickly after the premiere of Dragon on Sunday, which garnered 10 million viewers overnight, an HBO record for a series opener and roughly on pace with the season six premiere of Game of Thrones. In the days since the show’s premiere, HBO reports that the first episode had attracted 20 million viewers in the United States across linear, on-demand, and HBO Max platforms.

“We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” says Francesca Orsi, executive vp, HBO programming.

“Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. A huge thank you to [co-creator and executive producer George R.R. Martin and co-creator and showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik] for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”

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HBO executives have been positive about Dragon and have previously stated that the corporation is willing to green light another round if the premiere does well.  The renewal may not be important for Dragon’s future. HBO is working on at least seven Game of Thrones spinoff projects (four scripted, at least three animated). Dragon performing well enough to justify a quick second-season renewal might bode well for at least one other project getting a series order in the future.

The greater question is when the show will return. Dragon’s first season took ten months to film and a massive amount of post-production visual effects work, which began in January and is currently underway. The producers will find it tough to film and VFX another season by the end of 2023, thus a comeback in 2024 may be more likely. Paddy Considine portrays King Viserys Targaryen, Olivia Cooke portrays Alicent Hightower, and Emma D’Arcy portrays Princess Rhaenyra.

HBO has not stated how many episodes will be included in the second season, although another ten appear to be a fair guess. House of Dragon lovers are in for a treat. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

Are you excited? Let us know in the comments!