We now know when House of the Dragon will return — along with several other popular HBO titles.
The second season of the acclaimed Game of Thrones prequel will air in “early summer” of 2024. The second season will consist of eight episodes, two less than the first. Dragon is well enough along to have a first trailer, which was screened for reporters — but under the condition that its contents are not publicly described.
The announcement was made by HBO chief Casey Bloys during a press event in New York on Thursday. Bloys said the season has wrapped filming and is currently in post-production.
In addition, Bloys revealed that Euphoria season three, White Lotus season three, and the HBO’s prequel series to Stephen King’s novel IT (Welcome to Derry) have all been pushed to 2025.
The Last of Us season two begins production in spring, 2024 (pending a resolution of the actors’ strike) and is also likely coming in 2025.
The executive also revealed the company’s next Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, hopes to begin shooting in the spring. While no casting has yet been announced given the SAG-AFTRA strike, it seems likely the company has some names in mind if they’re looking to shoot that soon. The Hedge Knight is based on author George R.R. Martin’s popular trio of Dunk and Egg novellas, which chronicle the story of “Dunk” (the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall) and “Egg” (the future king Aegon V Targaryen) as they wander Westeros having adventures roughly 100 years before the events of the novels.
None of the other Thrones prequel concepts are close to a greenlight, Bloys added, but they’re working on ideas.
Bloys also addressed this week’s Rolling Stone report that he employed fake Twitter accounts to spar with TV critics in 2020 and 2021.
“I’m home working from home, spending an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through Twitter, and I came up with a very, very dumb idea to vent my frustration,” the executive said. “Obviously, six tweets over a year and a half is not very effective. But I do apologize to the people who were mentioned in the leaked email, texts. Obviously, nobody wants to be part of a story that they had nothing to do it. But as also, as many of you know, I have progressed over the past couple of years and using DM so now when I take issue with something in review, or take issue with something I see I DM many of you and many of you are gracious enough to engage with me back and forth.”
