House of the Dragon planned to run 3-4 seasons long (for now)

House of the Dragon is a big story. Set some 200 years before Game of Thrones, the new show is about a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen family, then at the height of its power. We’ll watch key characters like Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower grow from adolescent friends to embittered adults, all before the war proper even begins. The first season will cover a wide span of years that will include a 10-year time jump, plus smaller jumps along the way. “This is how you tell this story correctly,” showrunner Ryan Condal told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re telling a story of a generational war. We set everything up so by the time that first sword stroke falls, you understand all the players.”

At the same time, this story isn’t as big as the one on Game of Thrones. There are a ton of players, but not as many, and there are fewer factions involved. A lot of the conflict involves two camps: the Greens and the Blacks, each of which counts several members of the Targaryen family among its ranks, together with others. The Starks and the Baratheons and the Lannisters and other houses from the old show will turn up, but there isn’t as much sprawl.

“I liked the idea of focusing on one family, and obviously the Targaryens have a lot of drama to go around,” Condal said. “I also liked the echo of how empires can quickly fall — those are the types of conversations we are having in our own country, which I don’t think is anything I would’ve thought we’d be talking about 20 years ago.”

Will House of the Dragon tell other stories about the Targaryen family?

Because this story is more intimate, House of the Dragon probably won’t run as long as Game of Thrones did. Sources at THR say that the producers have plans for three or four seasons, which sounds about right to me; I can’t imagine them stretching this conflict far beyond that.

That said, things can change. Condal says that HBO is on board with his plan to end the show at so many seasons…for now. “Endings are the easiest thing to do in television,” he quipped.

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, which traces the history of the Targaryen dynasty from its beginnings in Valyria all the way through to the Dance of the Dragons, and there’s another volume on the way that would continue the story through to the fall of the Mad King Aerys, Daenerys Targaryen’s father. In theory, once House of the Dragon is done with the Dance of the Dragons, it could tell other stories about this family; they’ve got a million of them, after all. “The Targaryens span both directions,” Sapochnik said. “So as a spine to other possible stories and spinoffs … this is a great place to start.”

But first things first: House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.

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