How Many Seasons Will ‘House of the Dragon’ Take to Tell Its Story?

House of the Dragon season 2 nears its conclusion, but the resolution for the Greens and Black is still far off. Fans of George R. R. Martin’s source material, Fire & Blood, know there is still lots of story left to tell, but will the HBO series get another season?

Luckily, the answer is a resounding yes. Just before season 2’s premiere, HBO confirmed that House of the Dragon would be renewed for season 3. In a press release, HBO Executive Vice President Francesca Orsi praised the cast and crew’s “dragon-sized effort” and confirmed, “We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three.”

Season 3 might be HotD’s last

Will season 3 be House of the Dragon’s last? Right now, that answer is maybe. Deadline previously reported a possible “three or four seasons.” However, based on Fire & Blood, it seems likely House of the Dragon could wrap up the adaptation in just three seasons. Season 2 was already shortened from season 1’s ten episodes to just eight.

If season 3 is, in fact, House of the Dragon’s last, George R. R. Martin might not be too happy. As the author previously wrote in his blog, ironically titled Not a Blog, “It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish.” Posted in October of 2022, Martin’s musings addressed complaints about the time jumps in season 1. Martin went on to talk about the slow decline in episodes per season across television from when he was a child to now. He maintained that if House of the Dragon got 13 episodes like, say, The Sopranos, they could’ve “shown all the things” the time jump forced them to skip over.

That said, House of the Dragon ending with season 3 isn’t likely to make Martin too happy, and some suspect he is already dissatisfied with the show’s direction. His July 9, 2024, blog post revealed he would not be attending the writers’ room meeting for HotD season 3 in London. Whether that’s because of conflicting creative interests or something else, he didn’t elaborate.

HotD season 3 doesn’t have a release date yet

At the time of writing, there is no confirmed release date for House of the Dragon season 3. Both season 1 and season 2 of HotD premiered in summer, so we can likely expect the same release window for the upcoming season. If production follows a similar timeline as the previous seasons, we can expect season 3’s arrival in 2026. Yes, we’re most likely looking at another two-year wait. So, buckle up!