HBO reduces number of episodes in House of the Dragon season 2

Back in the day, every season of HBO’s fantasy drama Game of Thrones ran for 10 episodes. That changed with the final two seasons, which ran for seven and six episodes respectively. Some fans pointed to the episode count as one of the reasons the final stretch of the show felt rushed.

The first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones successor show House of the Dragon, which is set over a century before the original and tells the tale of a civil war between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty, ran a full 10 episodes. The new show is based on the fake history book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, who seemed happy about the size of the season. “I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tale,” he wrote on his blog. “I hope that will continue to be true. It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish.”

Well, he may not get his wish. Speaking to Deadline, an HBO spokesperson confirmed that season 2 of the show will have only eight episodes.

House of the Dragon season 2 will have eight episodes, down from 10

Before you start panicking, the spokesperson assures Deadline that this decision was story-driven. You see, when HBO decided to greenlight House of the Dragon, they didn’t know if the show was going to be a hit worth making multiple seasons out of. If you remember, there was rather lot of backlash to the final season of the original series. We know House of the Dragon became a big smash, but that wasn’t a sure thing.

Anyway, HBO didn’t greenlight a second season of House of the Dragon until after it premiered and the numbers were fantastic. Now they’re looking to invest in the show long term and are eying an early renewal for season 3, complete with scripts, casting and a production plan. This way, fans wouldn’t have to wait as long between seasons.

As part of this long-term strategy, House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal got together with George R.R. Martin and planned out the narrative flow of the rest of the series, which could last three or four seasons; according to Deadline, they’re leaning towards four. That also brought about some restructuring. What was originally going to be a 10-episode second season was reduced to eight, with a major battle being moved back to season 3.

What major battle got removed from House of the Dragon season 2?

This could all be hot air, but if the restructuring is being done with an eye towards making sure the whole series feels of a piece and if it means we don’t have to wait as long between seasons, it’s probably for the best.

As for major battle they could be talking about, there are a few coming up. I don’t think they’d move the fight at Rook’s Rest, since that goes down fairly soon after the events that ended season 1. The Battle of the Gullet is another good one that would make a fine finale to season 2. There are a few battles in the Riverlands this could refer to. And then there’s a certain kerfuffle in King’s Landing I won’t go to deep into for fear of spoiling things.

The second season of House of the Dragon begins filming shortly. It’s due out sometime in 2024. We’ll keep our ear to the ground for more.

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