Dragons will continue to reign on TV, as House of the Dragon has been officially picked up for a second season. HBO announced the news that House of the Dragon season 2 is on its way less than a week after the Game of Thrones prequel series premiered to the largest audience for any new original series in the cable networks history.
House of the Dragon takes place about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and is based on George R. R. Martin’s book, Fire & Blood, which details the family history of House Targaryen (Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors). Specifically, the show is said to cover an era in Game of Thrones history known as "The Dance of the Dragons."
The House of the Dragon cast features Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, Emm D’Arcy, Milly Alcock, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel and Sonoya Mizuno.
What to Watch's House of the Dragon episode 1 review called the new series a return to form for the popular TV franchise. The premiere was watched by nearly 10 million people on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, August 21, Deadline reported. Since its original airdate the show was been watched by more than 20 million viewers across HBO platforms.
The series airs on Sky Atlantic in the UK where it also set records, per Variety, with nearly a million people watching the simultaneous airing at 2 am UK time; total viewing numbers for Monday, August 22, reached 1.39 million when including the primetime broadcast of House of the Dragon. These numbers resulted in the biggest drama debut ever on Sky Atlantic, besting Game of Thrones.
Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, Francesca Orsi, said this about the renewal: "We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one. 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 George [R. R. Martin], 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."
House of the Dragon is aiming to run for three to four seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The quick renewal for the show means that it is well on its way to being able to tell its complete story.
As far as when House of the Dragon season 2 may come, unsurprisingly there were no details on that. Though our earliest guess would be a year from now — late summer/early fall 2023 (takes a lot of work to get those dragons camera ready.)
House of the Dragon season 1 episode 2 premieres on Sunday, August 28/Monday, August 29, with new episodes releasing weekly. With a 10 episode season, the House of the Dragon season 1 finale should air on October 23 for US audiences, October 24 for UK.
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