MOVIE NEWS – Season 2 of House of the Dragon has been given a tweak by showrunners trying to determine how long HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series will last.

Season 2 of HBO’s popular Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, may fall a little short of fan expectations. Production will soon begin on the upcoming 2024 premiere.

While House of the Dragon has regularly topped HBO’s episode premiere ratings, catering to its predecessor’s already rich fanbase, season two news came quickly after its debut.

According to Deadline, while the original plan was to have a 10-episode series in line with the previous season, an HBO spokesperson recently announced that Season 2 of House of the Dragon would only have eight episodes. The reason for this is due to the storyline and logical breaks in the structure. The change was made because the series is eyeing a possible 3rd and 4th season. These are already ready for HBO’s green light. They will likely arrive quickly. They could be announced before Season 2 hits screens in 2024.

Screenwriter Ryan Condal, in collaboration with George R.R. Martin, whose book Fire and Blood is the basis for House of the Dragon, decided that a shorter season would be the best way to map out the arc of the entire series from beginning to end. Because of the new episode number, plot threads initially planned for Season 2 will be moved to Season 3. Among them is supposedly a big battle. According to Deadline’s sources, Condal and Martin are constantly going back and forth on how many seasons would be best for the series. Most likely, the series will run for four seasons.

While the seasons of new series on HBO and many other networks are getting shorter, lagging behind the typical run of older series like The Sopranos, which usually had 13 episodes, the need to stick to a set source material could work in the House of the Dragon’s favour, as the creators will be able to turn to Martin’s stories at a moment’s notice.

Unlike the final seasons of Game of Thrones, which relied heavily on the show’s writers to figure out where Martin wanted to go. But here we see the endpoint. Amazon’s similar fantasy series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, had only eight episodes. Also, HBO’s hit series The Last of Us has only nine episodes.

Last season’s reception was a record-breaker, with the company estimating that it reached 130 million people in the US. The odds are incredibly good for further seasons. If the prequel series is anything like the original series, its reach will only increase as new people discover the franchise beyond the existing large fan base. Long or short, Season 2 of House of the Dragon is sure to be a smash hit.

Source: Deadline