House of the Dragon season 2 premieres in "early summer," according to HBO CEO

We've known for a while that the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon was going to come out this summer, but the exact date has eluded us. The other week, star Matt Smith — who plays the rebellious dragon-rider Daemon Targaryen — said he thoughts season 2 was coming in "August." Was that just a guess? Did he have inside information he was leaking?

Well, as well-positioned as Smith is, Smith isn't as plugged into questions about HBO's schedule as CEO Casey Bloys. Speaking to TheWrap at the Emmy Awards, Bloys said that House of the Dragon season 2 was due out in "early summer."

The summer of 2024 will kick off on June 20 and run through September 22. Although we don't have a firm release date yet, I'm inclined to think that Bloys has a better idea of when it's coming than Smith. This means we could be watching new episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 as early as late June, or maybe sometime in July. Since the first season of the premiered in August of 2022, that menas fans will have been waiting for a little under two years.

That is a long time to wait for a new season of TV, so we'll see if the hype has endured. The first season of House of the Dragon did end with some juicy cliffhangers that will hopefully have people coming back to their TVs. Aemond Targaryen killed his own nephew Lucerys Velaryon in a dragon-on-dragon battle, mightily angering Luke's mom Rhaenyra Targaryen, who looks ready to take off the kid gloves and plunge Westeros into an all-out war. By the sound of it, the premiere episode will contain some big shocks. They may throw everything they have at us right at the start to ensure we're tuning in every week. It's not a bad plan.

This new season of House of the Dragon will have eight episodes, whereas the first had 10. We'll keep an eye and ear out for news of an exact release date.

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