It's obvious House of the Dragon had more planned for season 2 but it got pushed back

The season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, "The Queen Who Never Was," ended with a series of cliffhangers. Rhaena Targaryen finds a dragon in the Vale...but we don't see what happens next. Tyland Lannister woos the Triarchy to his side and sets out to break the Velaryon blockade in the Gullet...but we don't see if he's successful. The Lannister, Stark, Hightower and Tully armies are on a collision course in the Riverlands, but they don't meet. There's battle afoot in the Reach but we don't know the details. Otto Hightower is in a cage but we don't know why. Alicent Hightower has plans to let Rhaenyra into King's Landing if she invades, but she hasn't gotten around to it yet.

It was almost comical how the finale teed up a ton of things that are going to happen but didn't follow through on any of them, especially since the only real clash between these two warring parties before this was in the fourth episode, "The Red Dragon and the Gold." Although we got exciting sequences like the Sowing of the Seeds, ultimately that just got butts in dragon saddles in preparation for conflicts to come. In place of a climactic next step in the war, the finale gave us an emotional reunion scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent which did not fill the gap, at least if you ask me.

Beware MAJOR SPOILERS below

There are some major clashes coming up in the pages of George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood that would have made a great, climactic end to the season. First up is the Battle of the Gullet, a naval battle between Corlys Velaryon's fleet and the Triarchy fleet. Rhaenyra's son Jace and the newly minted dragonriders Ulf, Addam and Hugh join in. By the end, the Triarchy is defeated, but Corlys' home of Driftmark is sacked beyond repair and Jace is dead.

Right after that, Rhaenyra and her remaining dragonriders descend on King's Landing while Aemond is away trying to confront Daemon at Harrenhal. But Daemon has given him the slip and come to King's Landing to help instead. Rhaenyra takes the city in a bloodless coup. The image of Rhaenyra sitting the Iron Throne would have been a great way to end the season.

So why wasn't it? Well, we've heard hints that a "major battle" originally planned for the end of season 2 was moved to season 3. This comes from Deadline, which usually has reliable inside information on these things.

It's not just industry chatter, either. This season of House of the Dragon had fewer episodes than the first: eight vs 10. When asked why there was a reduced episode count this year, producer Sara Hess only hinted that, "It wasn't really our choice."

Perhaps there were budget issues, or maybe HBO wants to stretch out the story so the show lasts more seasons? Whatever the exact reason, showrunner Ryan Condal was more diplomatic when he gave his take on why season 2 had fewer episodes than season 1, pointedly leaving out anything about it not being their "choice":

"In the final analysis of it all, once season one landed and we knew where we were in the narrative, we had a clear path of view to the end and knew what the end of this particular chapter in the Targaryen history was. Looking at that, and knowing essentially how much storytelling time we needed to get there, there was a bit of a rebalancing of the narrative that was necessary to happen. This eight-episode cadence helped us to find that."

It's also possible that the writers and actors strikes of 2023 had an affect on the production. Ultimately, whatever the reasons, the second season of House of the Dragon ends at something of an awkward midway point, and we have a long time to wait for season 3.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.