The first season of House of the Dragon, which aired on HBO and Max in 2022, had a full 10 episodes. The season had the space to tell a full arc front to back and was very warmly received. The second season aired in 2024, and while it had some definite high points, it got a lot more flak from fans. A lot of people were particularly disappointed in the season finale, which rather than giving us a climax ends with a montage of people and armies that will eventually clash. In a season that got accused of moving too slowly, that was a big let-down.
The second season of House of the Dragon ran for only eight episodes, but places like Deadline have gone behind the scenes and learned that there were originally going to be 10 episodes, including one that would have featured a big battle of the kind you'd expect might end a season of a big action adventure show like this. But at some point, HBO mandated that the season be cut down, and that battle was moved into season 3. Showrunner Ryan Condal tried to sell this as a story-driven decision, but I don't think anybody really believed him. Producer Sara Hess, speaking before HBO could remind her to toe the company line, seemed to hit closer to the truth when she said, "It wasn't really our choice."
Now, Deadline is bringing us more details about what happened. According to them, the decision to cut the second season down from 10 episodes to eight was made early in 2023, at least in part because the network was worried about the strikes going on in Hollywood around that time and wanted to be sure that House of the Dragon season 2 would be ready in time for a summer 2024 premiere date.
House of the Dragon was filmed mostly in England where the Hollywood strikes didn't disrupt filming, but I can believe that Warner Bros. Discovery took precautionary measures anyway. It's also been speculated that the cuts were made as part of a wider initiative by the studio to cut costs under the management of new CEO David Zaslav, who himself received a pay package of $247 million in 2021, just FYI. I can think of a few places to cut costs, Dave.
Whatever the reason, reducing the episode count for House of the Dragon season 2 in 2023, the year the season was filmed, clearly affected the quality. That's a bummer, especially because we have to wait until next year to watch the third season, which according to rumor will also have only eight episodes. At least this time the writers won't have to rearrange things on short notice.
Why are TV shows giving us fewer episodes per season?
The Deadline article asks the bigger question of why seasons of TV seem to have fewer episodes these days; it's particularly annoying given that we're often waiting longer between those seasons. There's no one answer. Sometimes it really is driven by creative decisions. Sometimes it's about timing, or about studios wanting to spend less on productions. The strikes affected a lot of shows, etc.
Hugely popular shows like Squid Game and Stranger Things can get away with giving fans fewer episodes dropped a very long time apart. It's harder for newer shows like The Wheel of Time or The Rings of Power, both of which have eight episodes per season, to pull it off. I foresee a streamlining of production on the way, with studios finding ways to spend less money on these big prestige series. That could result in less visual spectacle, but more (and more frequent) episodes overall.
I don't think this has to be a bad thing. Take the Marvel series Agatha All Along, which came out on Disney+ last year to great acclaim, despite the fact that it cost significantly less than your average Marvel series. It feels like studios have gone a little too crazy with the spending in recent years. A correction may be needed. But if solid writing and direction make up for the coming drop in funds, we could all be better off.
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