We're still a few months away from the premiere of House of the Dragon season 3, but that just means we've got more time to speculate about what the next season of HBO's Game of Thrones spinoff has in store. Season 2 ended with the cliffhanger that armies were marching to war, while an armada of pirates from Essos set sail to break Corlys Velaryon's blockade around King's Landing and Rhaenyra's dragon airforce added three new members to its ranks. When the show returns in June, it's going to hit the ground running.
While we have plenty of ideas of what's in store, such as the Battle of the Gullet early in the season, we're still getting new details. The latest is that the writer line-up for House of the Dragon season 3 has now been confirmed, along with who penned which episodes. This information comes courtesy of the Writers Guild of America West directory, which now lists full writing credits for House of the Dragon season 3. Check them out below:
House of the Dragon season 3 writers
- Episode 3-1 — Written for Television by Ryan J. Condal
- Episode 3-2 — Written for Television by Sara Hess
- Episode 3-3 — Written for Television by Sara Hess
- Episode 3-4 — Written for Television by David Hancock
- Episode 3-5 — Written for Television by Philippa Goslett
- Episode 3-6 — Written for Television by David Hancock & Shyam Popat
- Episode 3-7 — Written for Television by Philippa Goslett & Zenzele Price
- Episode 3-8 — Written for Television by Ryan J. Condal & Ti Mikkel
There are some interesting things to note in this line-up. Obviously it comes as no surprise to see showrunner Ryan Condal and producer Sara Hess penning multiple episodes. They're the two longest-running writers on the show, and it would be weird to see them not in this line-up.
To date, Condal has written the season premiere for each season, while Hess has penned a number of important episodes including "The Green Council" and "The Princess and the Queen" from season 1, and "Rhaenyra the Cruel" and "The Queen Who Ever Was" from season 2. Hess has had some incredible episodes as well as some that included fairly controversial choices (I'm looking at you, Meleys-interrupting-Aegon's-coronation); I'm curious to see what she and Condal are cooking up for season 3.
We do know that one of Hess' two episodes is a "conceptual episode" that will be very "character-driven." I'm expecting that to be Episode 3, after Rhaenyra assumes a new seat of power and the war begins to shift into its next phase.
As for the rest, David Hancock joined the show in season 2, where he wrote the third episode ("The Burning Mill") as well as the penultimate episode, "The Red Sowing." Ti Mikkel wrote the fifth episode of season 2, "Regent." She's also George R.R. Martin's long-time writing assistant, and a part of the writers room for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. She's also in the thick of releasing her own book series, which debuted with 2025's The Archivist. As such, while I'd love to see more of Mikkel in the House of the Dragon season 3 line-up, it makes sense to see her commitments for the series scaled back slightly from season 2. Nonetheless, she's done very solid work on the series so far, and I'm taking it as a good sign that she and Condal co-wrote the finale together.
That leaves Philippa Goslett, Zenzele Price, and Shyam Popat. Goslett has been an executive producer on House of the Dragon since season 2, and is stepping into a more hands-on role this time around. Price was one of the writers on Hulu's adaptation of Octave E. Butler's book Kindred, and Popat contributed an episode to the recent Sophie Turner thriller Steal. I'm excited to see what they all bring to their respective episodes in House of the Dragon season 3!
House of the Dragon season 3 director line-up
There are a few more things we can glean from this recent announcement by combining it with some other information we already know: which directors are handling which episodes of the season. That information came out in April 2025, and it gives an idea of the shape of the season. The directors for House of the Dragon season 3 are:
- Episode 3-1: Loni Peristere
- Episode 3-2: Clare Kilner
- Episode 3-3: Clare Kilner
- Episode 3-4: Clare Kilner
- Episode 3-5: Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Episode 3-6: Loni Peristere
- Episode 3-7: Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Episode 3-8: Andrij Parekh
It has been confirmed that Peristere is directing the Battle of the Gullet for the season premiere, which is a great fit since he also helmed "The Red Sowing." Since Peristere has handled some big action sequences, it stands to reason that something intense may go down in Episode 6 as well; my money would be on the Butcher's Ball...because we have a clue that a different dragon battle is coming in either Episode 5 or 7, which could leave Episode 6 as prime real estate for some good, non-dragon action.
Nina Lopez-Corrado, who directs ep 5 and 7, implied in a podcast that she filmed a dragon fight or battle.
— rhaenicent files 📂 (@rhaenicentfiles) March 16, 2026
When asked about her approach to storyboarding, she said: “In House of the Dragon, I try to get everyone to see my vision with the dragons, especially- pic.twitter.com/1XNLYyKY9U
It sounds like the First Battle of Tumbleton will be in the penultimate episode of House of the Dragon season 3
Nina Lopez-Corrado, who directed the season finale of The Last of Us season 2 and will helm both Episodes 5 and 7 of House of the Dragon season 3, revealed on an episode of The TV Police podcast that part of her directing duties this season included a dragon fight. This came up when she was asked about how she used storyboards across the various shows she's worked on.
“In House of the Dragon, just trying to get everyone to see my vision with the dragons. Especially the dragon fights and stuff, how we want to make that happen," she replied. "I usually start with the storyboards, and then the storyboards are given to our visual effects artists, and then they do a full previs, so then they previs all of them so that we can see it together. And then with the help of the visual effects guys, who like...they are the geniuses behind the dragons, they help make it cohesive so we can shoot it on the day. So storyboards are super, super helpful."
My best guess here is that this means we're going to see the First Battle of Tumbleton in the penultimate episode of season 3, which will be directed by Lopez-Corrado and written by Philippa Goslett and Zenzele Price. If you've read Fire & Blood, you know what that will entail. If you haven't, suffice to say that multiple dragons will be involved in a brawl that will completely shake the power balance between the Green and Blacks down to its foundations.
Between Tumbleton, the Gullet, and at least two other major events from Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon season 3 will easily be the show's most ambitious outing yet in terms of scale.
We'll have our ear to the ground for more updates. House of the Dragon season 3 premieres in June 2026 on HBO and HBO Max.