The third season of House of the Dragon is now in full production, meaning everyone will be putting on their white-blonde wigs and mounting their dragon bucks. We won't see the new episodes for a while, but we're getting more information everyday.
For instance, @westerosies — which always has its ear to the ground for news about everyone's favorite dragon show — has reported on the director lineup for next season. According to them, here's who's directing each of the third season's eight episodes:
- Episode 1: Loni Peristere
- Episode 2: Clare Kilner
- Episode 3: Clare Kilner
- Episode 4: Clare Kilner
- Episode 5: Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Episode 6: Loni Peristere
- Episode 7: Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Episode 8: Andrij Parekh
First of all, yes, it's disappointing that we're only getting eight episodes instead of 10 like we had in the first season. At some point, I hope studios will figure out that giving fans more episodes closer together in time is infinitely preferable to giving us fewer episodes years apart, but I guess we'll just have to teeter on until they get it together.
As for the lineup itself, there are a few things we can glean from it. Based on everything we saw, the third season of House of the Dragon will start off with an epic action sequence called the Battle of the Gullet. Director Loni Peristere will take the helm on that one. In addition to directing several episodes of Warrior, a fantastic action show more people should check out on Netflix or Max, Peristere directed the episode "The Red Sowing" in House of the Dragon season 2. That's the episode where all the dragonseeds were locked in a room with a hungry dragon. The action there was pretty spectacular, so I'm sure Peristere will do a good job with the Battle of the Gullet.
Loni Peristere is also directing the sixth episode. Does that mean there's another action sequence in that one? Not necessarily, although if there is, we have a couple ideas for what it could be.
Clare Kilner is directing three episodes of House of the Dragon season 3, the most of any director. She's been at it since season 1, directing terrific episodes like "King of the Narrow Sea" and "Rhaenyra the Cruel" as well as underwhelming ones like "The Green Council" and "Regent." Basically, if the writing is good, Kilner will deliver. If it's not, there's only so much a director can do.
The new kid on the block is Nina Lopez-Corrado, who's directing Episodes 5 and 7. She hasn't worked on House of the Dragon before, but she directed on the seriously underrated HBO detective series Perry Mason and directed an episode from the upcoming second season of The Last of Us, a show that has a very high bar for quality.
Finally, Andrij Parekh will direct the finale. In addition to directing for shows like Succession and Watchmen, Parekh directed the House of the Dragon episode "Smallfolk," one of the better outings from season 2.
New episodes of House of the Dragon will be out on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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