As soon as HBO announced House of the Dragon would be the first official spinoff series from Game of Thrones, fans were intrigued.
Centering around House Targaryen, the new series is also set some 172 years before what unfolded in Game of Thrones.
In the original series, the Targaryens were a dying breed, having whittled away to Aemon Targaryen (Peter Vaughan) at Castle Black, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), her brother, Viserys (Harry Lloyd), and Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who turned out to be a hidden Targaryen born to Ned Stark’s (Sean Bean) sister.
However, in House of the Dragon, the family is at the apex of their rule. House Targaryen is plentiful with dragons and King Viserys (Paddy Considine) is a kind ruler and not a Targaryen who has descended into the madness that would plague later Targaryen kings.
With Episode 1 already being praised by fans and critics alike, it was assumed that HBO would renew the epic fantasy series.
Now, the official announcement has been made.
House of the Dragon is renewed for a second season
According to Forbes, HBO has officially confirmed that House of the Dragon will return for Season 2.
This was also revealed via the network’s official Twitter account for the TV show.
Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, Francesca Orsi, released the following statement regarding 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, 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.”
Of course, there was very little doubt that the series wouldn’t be renewed by the network thanks to the already amassed popularity of the show.
This was evidenced when 10 million people tuned in to watch Episode 1.
Now, according to HBO, “20 million viewers across linear, On Demand, and HBO Max platforms in the U.S.” have already watched the first installment.
What can we expect in Season 2?
Already, the intrigue has been set for Season 1 of House of the Dragon. We know that a battle for the Iron Throne will occur within House Targaryen as King Viserys breaks from tradition and names his daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), as his successor, rather than his brother, Daemon (Matt Smith).
However, how all this plays out remains to be seen as only a single episode has aired so far on HBO.
Already, it has been suggested that writers were already working towards what would happen in Season 2 of House of the Dragon well before Episode 1 even aired.
And, there has even been talk that House of the Dragon will become an anthology series as the network explores further parts of the realm.
However, it appears that Seasons 1 and 2 will deal with the Targaryen conflict currently unfolding and viewers will simply have to tune in to further episodes in order to find out more.
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO Max.