With last night’s episode, the first season of House of the Dragon has come to a satisfying conclusion. The show was renewed for a second season earlier this year, but what do we know about it exactly?

The Game of Thrones spin-off is an adaptation of the in-universe history book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, which depicts the civil war known as Dance of the Dragons, which officially began at the end of season 1, episode 9, when Prince Aegon was named King. The conflict had Princess Rhaenyra defend her claim to the throne against Aegon, her half-brother, and will continue in the second season of the series.

Co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, who directed several episodes in season 1, as well as some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones, will be stepping down, with co-showrunner Ryan Condal taking over the entire operation. Condal said in a recent interview with The Times that season 2 will deliver even more war:

“We will get to the spectacle. But you have to understand these people’s complexities before they’re thrown into war.

Series two will hit the rhythms people came to expect from the middle run of ‘Game of Thrones’, but it will have been earned, and viewers will feel the tragedies because we put the work in.”

When can we expect House of the Dragon season 2?

Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Elliot Grihault as Lucerys Velaryon in HBO’s House of the Dragon

Unfortunately, much like what Prime Video did with The Rings of Power, HBO did not start shooting season 2 in time for a quick release. We expect filming to begin in the first half of 2023, and we know the series is planning to go to Cáceres, Spain, between March and June. The city was a common location to shoot the King’s Landing scenes in both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

Keeping in mind HBO will probably roll out another batch of ten hour-long episodes, it’s unlikely shooting will conclude before the end of the summer of 2023, and given the usual time of post-production, we could be looking at a summer 2024 release date at the earliest. We will probably have to wait a couple of years, but it’s very possible that HBO and Prime Video will not want to repeat this year’s schedule, with both The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon playing at the same time. We will have to wait, but both studios are probably doing their best to rush post-production and get the new seasons out as soon as possible, so that viewers still have the first season of either show fresh in their minds.

Who will be back in the new season?

Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Harry Collett as Jacaerys Velaryon in HBO’s House of the Dragon

We expect the entire cast of the second half of the first season to be back, except for probably Paddy Considine’s King Viserys and Elliot Grihault’s Lucerys Velaryon. In principle, Milly Alcock and Emily Carey will not be back as young Rhaenyra and Alicent respectively, though Carey did tell The Hollywood Reporter that there have been conversations about possibly having a few flashbacks in the second season that would bring the two of them back (that could potentially include Viserys’ return):

“It’s been spoken about, conversations have happened, but, in all honesty, I know absolutely nothing and I have no idea. Of course, I would love to come back. It depends on how it’s received and where they want to take the show next. I’m just going with the flow!”

While the marketing mostly focused on Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke’s incarnations of the characters, audiences quickly became attached to the younger versions in the first five episodes. This is something the showrunners probably realized would happen while in post-production, and it’s possible they revisited some of the scripts for the second season to include flashbacks.

Stay tuned for more news on House of the Dragon season 2 coming very soon.

Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.