Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon recently dropped not one but two trailers for its upcoming second season. This double-whammy sent Westeros fans’ excitement levels soaring – so, when does House of the Dragon Season 2 come out?
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When Does House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere on HBO?
House of the Dragon Season 2 debuts on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16, 2024. Only one installment of the show’s sophomore outing is currently slated to drop on this date, as HBO – unlike streaming-based services such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ – typically eschews multi-episode premieres. On the plus side, this will allow House of the Dragon devotees to savor Season 2 for longer than its shorter, eight-episode run would otherwise allow.
Director Clare Kilner addressed House of the Dragon Season 2’s reduced episode count in a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, insisting it was a case of quality over quantity. “There are eight wonderful episodes with so much happening in every episode,” she said. “And we have trouble, at times, bringing them down to one hour. [Showrunner] Ryan [Condal’s] decision was to give it a good opening and a good ending, and they’re jam-packed with emotional and visually exciting events.”
Related: When Does House of the Dragon Take Place in the Game of Thrones Timeline?
What Is House of the Dragon Season 2 About?
Episode counts notwithstanding, what can you expect from House of the Dragon Season 2 story-wise? Two words: civil war. Season 1’s finale, “The Black Queen,” ends with rival Targaryen factions – Queen Rhaenyra’s Blacks and King Aegon’s Greens – on the brink of battle. Season 2 will see this boil over, resulting in the legendary conflict known as the “Dance of the Dragons.”
The upshot is that House of the Dragon‘s second batch of episodes should boast even more aerial combat between fire-breathing beasties than its predecessor. That’s not the only way Season 2 will set itself apart from Season 1, either. Ryan Condal confirmed in a 2022 Deadline interview that House of the Dragon Season 2 won’t employ the same narrative time jumps that defined Season 1.
House of the Dragon Season 2 roars onto HBO and Max on June 16, 2024.
