The season 2 finale of House of the Dragon is the longest-ever episode of the series

We're past the halfway point in the second season of House of the Dragon, and on average, the episodes have been longer than they were in season 1. Of course, season 2 also has fewer episodes than season 1. While the show's first outing ran for 10 episodes, the second has only eight.

We're close enough to the end that HBO has updated its official schedule to include the run times for all eight of those episodes. Check out the full list below:

• Episode 201, "A Son for a Son": June 16 (1 hour, 4 minutes)
• Episode 202, "Rhaenyra the Cruel": June 23 (1 hour, 12 minutes)
• Episode 203, "The Burning Mill": June 30 (1 hour, 10 minutes)
• Episode 204, "The Red Dragon and the Gold": July 7 (56 minutes)
• Episode 205, "Regent": July 14 (1 hour, 7 minutes)
• Episode 206: July 21 (1 hour, 10 minutes)
• Episode 207: July 28 (1 hour, 7 minutes)
• Episode 208: August 4 (1 hour, 13 minutes)

HBO has been holding the titles back until after the episodes actually air, hence why we don't have titles for the last three. But we do know the runtimes. At the moment, the excellent second episode of this season, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," is the longest episode of the show to air so far. But come August 4, that will change. At 73 minutes, the season 2 finale is the longest episode of House of the Dragon we know about.

Why is the House of the Dragon season 2 finale so long?

That makes sense; you want the finale to be a big event, right? Of course it's chonkier.

It's also mysterious. We don't know much about what's going to happen in the back half of the season, although we have our guesses. When last we left off, the Greens and the Blacks were in the thick of war over the Iron Throne. King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is badly injured and his younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) had stepped in as regent. Across the Narrow Sea on Dragonstone, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her son Jace (Harry Collett) hatched a plan to recruit more dragonriders to their side. We expect to see that storyline to play out over the next couple of episodes, but as for what ends this season, our guess is as good as yours.

We'll all find out together as new episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 continue to come out on Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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