The second season of House of the Dragon has wrapped and once again fans are in the long, dark until the next season. In a recent interview, showrunner Ryan Cogdal said season three won’t go into production until early next year, so you can bet on another year-long-plus gap as happened between seasons one and two. Another confirmation from Cogdal concerns the show’s total number of seasons. Unlike Game of Thrones that went into season eight, House of the Dragon will end after season four.
The showrunner explained he and the other writers mapped the rest of the show’s story, as explored in George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, after season one wrapped. So while fans are a bit disappointed at the lack of major battles, and therefore major deaths, in the season two finale, Cogdal promises the next season will give you more than your money’s worth.
“One of the things that came into play in season two,” Cogdal said, “is: What is the final destination of the series and where are we going? We wanted to rebalance the story in such a way that we had three great seasons of television [after season one] to round out and tell this story. When you’re trying to mount the show, which requires a tremendous amount of resources, construction, armor, costumes, visual effects … we are trying to give The Gullet — which is arguably the second most anticipated action event of Fire & Blood — trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves.”
The Battle of the Gullet is one of the key major conflicts in the Targaryen Civil War, and this season took great care to lay the groundwork for it and what will come after. “So I apologize for the wait,” Cogdal said. “But with the team that we have together, we’re going to pull off a hell of a win with The Battle of the Gullet.”
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
