We're officially well into the long night between seasons of House of the Dragon, HBO's epic Game of Thrones prequel series about the Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart some 200 years before the original show. Given the scale of House of the Dragon — and the amount of screentime dedicated to its titular fire-breathing monsters — fans have become accustomed to waiting multiple years for new episodes. But during these lulls, any bit of information can feel like a lifeline.
Today it's Gayle Rankin, the actress who plays the woods witch Alys Rivers, who is throwing us one. Rankin recently spoke to The Direct to promote her upcoming film The Incomer, but the outlet couldn't resist asking her about House of the Dragon as well. Rankin was reticent to give much away about the show's fourth and final season, but did confirm that she "will be [involved]" in the shoot for season 4, since both Alys and her lover Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) are "still alive" at this point in the series, and that filming is scheduled to kick off "early next year."
That's not much to go on, but the timetable continues to reinforce what we've been gathering from other reports. According to the UK film industry website Film Base UK, House of the Dragon season 3 is slated to begin pre-production this month, where sets are built, costumes are created, and scripts are finalized before they're sent off to the actors. Around the time season 3 was finishing its run on HBO, showrunner Ryan Condal also stated that filming is set to begin in "early 2027." A few weeks later, Alicent Hightower actress Olivia Cooke took things a step further, confirming that filming starts "next spring."
That quote from Olivia Cooke is from about a month ago, so as of right now, House of the Dragon remains on schedule. We'll take any bit of good news we can get as the show heads toward its expected 2028 premiere date for its final run of episodes.
What will happen to Alys Rivers and Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 4?
As for Rankin's enigmatic witch Alys Rivers, her storyline in House of the Dragon season 4 is one that has us very curious. The show dug deep into her budding relationship with Aemond in season 3, until the season finale finally cracked open her biggest secret, revealing that she is in fact more than 100 years old, and the former wife of none other than Harren the Black, the infamous warlord who built Harrenhal before Aegon's Conquest. This revelation brought her and Aemond closer together than ever...but they weren't able to enjoy that peace for long, before Aemond's brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) reappeared and announced his intention to help Aemond reclaim his missing dragon, Vhagar. (After berating him at length in hilarious fashion, of course.)
House of the Dragon season 4 ends with Aemond and Aegon presumably off on that quest, with Alys still in Harrenhal. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) gave permission to Lady Sabitha Frey (Sarah Woodward) to capture Harrenhal with her own army of Frey soldiers. Without delving too deeply into spoilers from George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, this collision between the Freys and Alys is one that is laid out in the text, and Aemond's eventual return to Harrenhal should prove yet another crucial turning point for his dynamic with Alys.
Provided the show sticks to the source material — never a guarantee, but likely in this case — we'll probably see Aemond and Alys revel in having Vhagar back, taking the fight to the Riverlands at large. This will should lead to one of the most climactic and iconic moments in the entire Dance of the Dragons civil war: the Battle Above the Gods Eye, where Aemond and his uncle, Daemon (Matt Smith), finally settle their score once and for all.
However House of the Dragon handles all that material, the chances are very good that Alys and Aemond are going to play a much more central role in the show's final season than they did in season 3. As they should.
It will be some time until we see it, though. House of the Dragon is still scheduled to premiere its fourth season in 2028. Until then, our watch for news and updates continues.
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