Fans of House of the Dragon have had mixed feelings after Season 2. Some moments were thrilling, sure, but the season felt unnecessarily stretched out without a satisfying payoff, attributing to factors such as a reduced season length and changes to the source material.
We ran a Facebook post asking, “What are the top 5 improvements House of the Dragon needs to make in season 3?”, and these are the top 7 of the most common improvements and suggestions readers kept highlighting.
In short, they want more dragon scenes, more battles, sharper dialogue, more episodes, fewer compromises, and less filler. Fans are hoping that Season 3 (and the final Season 4) recovers the magic from Season 1, leans harder into the books, and doubles down on the show’s strengths.
House of the Dragon needs more dragon scenes–especially the relationship with their riders
Dragons are one of the biggest draws of the main conflict within House of the Dragon. But many readers say we didn’t see enough of their emotional ties in Season 2. Helaena, for example, never interacts with her dragon Dreamfyre at all.
More scenes where dragons are characters themselves could deepen the emotional stakes and make the upcoming battles even more intense if we get more bonding scenes between riders and their dragons. Also, these bonding moments make the dragons feel alive, and more than just weapons. If Season 3 gives us more of that, it could bring back some awe that people missed from Season 1.
Fans want more battles in House of the Dragon
Fans complained that Season 2 promised big fights and payoffs but often held back. The Battle of the Gullet was supposed to end Season 2, but budget constraints led to a shortened season. Now, the cast has already revealed that Season 3 will open with that battle.
That’s good, but folks want more. If you’ve read the books, you know there are more clashes ahead–both smaller skirmishes and bigger dragon battles–so this aspect should be taken care of, unless the show decides to skip some of them. Battles are more than just action and spectacle, since they show who people are under pressure, and just how big the stakes are. Fans also want more scenes of strategizing between characters, especially amid shifting loyalties.
House of the Dragon could use more wit and humor
One thing Game of Thrones (at least in its prime) always did well was super-sharp dialogue. In Season 1 of House of the Dragon, we had a lot of scenes reminiscent of that quality, like decent banter and clever jabs. In Season 2, lots of viewers noticed that the writing got softer, less daring, less sharp.
Characters who once had spines and always stood up for themselves seem safer now, especially Rhaenyra. Some readers even want a Tyrion-like mind, someone clever and ironic. This can also be attributed to pacing issues and changes in the source material, with many scenes feeling repetitive and trying to nail home the same point.
Future House of the Dragon seasons need improved pacing and writing
Pacing was a big gripe in Season 2. Some arcs seemed rushed, others kept going in circles, especially in the exact same locations. Some big changes from the books especially disappointed fans because they weakened characters or removed interesting complexities.
Nettles being left out in Season 3 has already struck some the wrong way. They want more scenes that show inner conflict, without the gray morals of these characters being whitewashed into very simplistic terms of just good versus bad.
HBO needs to give House of the Dragon seasons higher episode count
Short seasons mean some side-stories get left on the cutting floor or are rushed altogether. GRRM himself said it would take at least four seasons of ten episodes to properly tell this story. Since Season 3 will also contain just eight episodes, many commenters worry that we may lose subtle growth and smaller moments, and other aspects from the books that require nuance and time.
Because those small character moments are why you care more about these people when the big moments go down, it’s important not to skip them in favor of just the big picture. Unfortunately, Season 4 is also expected to cap out at eight episodes.
The House of the Dragon writers should take more risks with characters and storytelling
Fans feel the show has started softening its edges. Rhaenyra, Alicent—sometimes they’re made more likable, less sharp, toned down compared to the book, so that people don’t dislike them or feel too strongly against them. But that dilutes the conflict.
In the source material, these characters are messy, ruthless, and selfish. The show should lean into that more. For example, some of Rhaenyra’s fierceness was downplayed in Season 2. In the books, she also ordered Daemon to execute Vaemond, which was omitted in Season 1. Alicent’s inner turmoil was perhaps simplified to be more relatable. These changes feel like they’re made to avoid much backlash rather than to serve the story.
No more Daemon hallucinations please
One of the most common comments on the thread, that all fans pretty much unanimously agree on, are Daemon’s multiple hallucination sequences in Harrenhal. The first one or two times, they were interesting, psychological, and weird. But once they started happening every episode, they became repetitive and even annoying. No matter how good an idea originally was, once it gets repetitive, it loses that charm and becomes tedious real quick.
Thankfully, since Daemon won’t be at Harrenhal or near Alys Rivers anymore in Season 3, we really shouldn’t be expecting to see any more of these sequences.