All the dragons roared as one: House of the Dragon is renewed for season 2
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The Dance of the Dragons is just getting started.
House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel series, has officially been renewed for season 2 — even though the show's creators had already been talking about another installment for weeks as if it were a sure thing.
Ryan Condal, who co-created House of the Dragon with George R.R. Martin, said during the Comic-Con Hall H panel in July that there's a line item in the season 2 prop budget for severed heads. Meanwhile, Miguel Sapochnik, a co-showrunner on the series with Condal, told EW the team had designed dragons that wouldn't appear until later seasons when mapping out the show's arc in the development stage. Now, it's all official.
The news comes after HBO reported record-breaking ratings for House of the Dragon, which premiered its first episode Sunday and garnered 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms in the U.S. This marked the biggest series premiere in HBO history.
As of Friday, more than 20 million viewers have watched the premiere across linear, On Demand, and HBO Max platforms in the U.S. That's according to the network, using a combination of Nielsen ratings and first-party data.
A lot of projects have seemed up in the air after all the film and TV cancellations recently announced by the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery, from DC's Batgirl and Wonder Twins; we also saw layoffs in the HBO Max reality TV sector. But it seems as though the company is staying in the Game of Thrones business.
Ollie Upton/HBO Olivia Cooke's Alicent Hightower stares down Emma D'Arcy's Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO's 'House of the Dragon.'
"We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season 1," Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming, said in a statement. "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, Ryan, and Miguel 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 2."
House of the Dragon begins 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. The Targaryen dynasty is at the apex of its power in Westeros. With a menagerie of dragons at their disposal, no one dares challenge their reign, which means the biggest threat to House Targaryen is itself.
That brings us to the Dance of the Dragons, the name the poets of Westeros gave to a gruesome civil war that brought the thriving empire to its knees. The reigning king of the age, King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), names his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, his sole heir to the Iron Throne over his brother, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith). (Milly Alcock plays Rhaenyra as a teen before Emma D'Arcy takes over the role as an adult later in the show.) But when Viserys conceives a son, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), in the proceeding years, the House is split over the matter of succession.
The subsequent war is fueled by the friendship and falling-out between Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower, the daughter of the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). Emily Carey portrays Alicent as a teen and Olivia Cooke portrays her as an adult.
The show's renewal indicates HBO's investment in the future of the Game of Thrones franchise. Sapochnik previously confirmed to EW that should House of the Dragon continue on for many more seasons, the show could tackle other notable Targaryen stories, from Aegon the Conqueror to the Mad King.
"We've chosen a story that's almost like Star Wars: Episode IV," he said. "It's the New Hope. We can go backwards, we can go forwards. There's a lot of opportunities there. I hope we've been given the opportunity to set up something."
Meanwhile, HBO is already in various stages of development on multiple other Game of Thrones projects, including a Jon Snow–centric sequel series, a Sea Snake prequel (Steve Toussaint plays the older character on House of the Dragon), and animated projects.
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