Ahead of Sunday's season 2 premiere, HBO has already renewed 'House of the Dragon' for a third season.
The Dance of Dragons continues! HBO announced on Thursday that the Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, has been renewed for season 3.
The news comes just ahead of the season 2 premiere on Sunday, June 16 -- nearly two years after the series first debuted. House of the Dragon is based on author George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, a prequel to the original series, and focuses on the reign of House Targaryen during the time of dragons -- nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, celebrated the series' co-creators George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal in a press release announcing the pickup.
"George, Ryan, and the rest of our incredible executive producers, cast, and crew, have reached new heights with the phenomenal second season of House of the Dragon," she said. "We are in awe of the dragon-sized effort the entire team has put into the creation of a spectacular season two, with a scope and scale that is only rivaled by its heart. We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three."
Most of season 1 was spent establishing the major players in the battle of succession to follow the death of King Viserys (Paddy Considine, who will surely be missed). After the season ended in dramatic fashion, with the hasty coronation of King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) vowing to both take the throne and seek revenge for the murder of her son Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault), season 2 will likely see the fractured family plunge Westeros into all-out war between the Black Council (aka Team Rhaenyra) and the Green Council (aka Team Aegon).
"We will get to the spectacle," Condal previously told The Times. "But you have to understand these people’s complexities before they’re thrown into war."
Now that viewers have gotten to know the major characters, as well as what's at stake, he added, "[Season] 2 will hit the rhythms people came to expect from the middle run of Game of Thrones, but it will have been earned, and viewers will feel the tragedies because we put the work in."
Plus, the Greens and Blacks will both have more firepower at their disposal as they battle for the Iron Throne.
"You're going to meet five new dragons," Condal teased to The Hollywood Reporter in March 2023.
The series also stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Matthew Needham, Sonoya Mizuno, Ewan Mitchell, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Abubakar Salim, Gayle Rankin, Freddie Fox, Simon Russell Beale, Clinton Liberty, Jamie Kenna, Kieran Bew, Tom Bennett, Tom Taylor, and Vincent Regan.
House of the Dragon season 2 premieres Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. PT/ET on HBO and streaming on Max.
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