The second season of the hit fantasy series House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, will premiere in June 2024, according to HBO. The announcement was made by J.B. Perrette, the streaming and gaming boss of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, during an interview at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom conference.
House of the Dragon Season 2 will continue the story of the Targaryen dynasty in the fictional continent of Westeros, based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. The first season, which aired in 2022, introduced the main characters and set up the conflict between the two rival branches of the royal family: the greens and the blacks. The second season is expected to feature more dragon battles, assassinations, and political intrigue, as the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons unfolds.
The cast of House of the Dragon Season 2 will include the returning stars from the first season, such as Paddy Considine as King Viserys I, Olivia Cooke as Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, and Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower. New characters will also be introduced, such as Aegon II Targaryen, the son of Alicent and Viserys, who will claim the throne against his half-sister Rhaenyra.
The second season of House of the Dragon will have eight episodes, two less than the first season. The reason for the shorter season is not clear, but it may be due to the more focused and less expansive (from a location perspective) story it will tell. The show is filmed in the UK and has a mostly British cast, which allowed it to avoid the impact of the 2023 Hollywood strikes that affected many other productions.
The first trailer for House of the Dragon Season 2 was released in December 2023, and it showed glimpses of the upcoming action and drama. Fans of the show and the original Game of Thrones series are eagerly awaiting the return of the epic saga, which is planned to span four or more seasons. George R.R. Martin, who serves as a co-creator and executive producer of the show, has teased that the second season will be “very dark” and “powerful, emotional, gut-wrenching, heart rending.”
House of the Dragon Season 2 will debut on HBO Max in the US, Sky in the UK, and Binge in Australia in June 2024. The exact date is yet to be announced. Stay tuned for more updates on the show and its release date.