House of the Dragon: HBO teases thrilling season finale
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The first season of HBO’s first Game of Thrones prequel comes to an end this Sunday after receiving acclaim from die-hard fantasy fans over the past 10 weeks. After returning to the world of Westeros once more in the first outing of House of the Dragon, there is even more action, bloodshed and betrayal to come from House Targaryen.
Showrunner Ryan Condal has assured fans the second season of House of the Dragon will be much more action-packed.
Ryan will be taking over as sole showrunner after his co-writer Miguel Sapochnik departed after one season.
He also wrote this week’s epic season finale, The Black Queen, which set the stage for another bloody war for the Iron Throne.
While some viewers have been somewhat disappointed by the first season’s slower pace and distracting time jumps, Ryan promised the series will find its footing in season two.
The writer revealed the action was deliberately slowed down for this year’s season in order to give fans a better chance to get to know House of the Dragon’s cast of characters.
“We will get to the spectacle,” he promised fans. “But you have to understand these people’s complexities before they’re thrown into war.”
Compared to the first seasons of Game of Thrones, the events depicted in House of the Dragon’s first 10 episodes have been far more nuanced and methodical.
Following the death of King Viserys Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine), however, the fight to control Westeros is guaranteed to pick up with divisive ruler Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the throne.
“Series two will hit the rhythms people came to expect from the middle run of Game of Thrones,” Ryan told the Times.
“But it will have been earned, and viewers will feel the tragedies because we put the work in.”
Later episodes of Game of Thrones pulled in 10s of millions of viewers, and House of the Dragon quickly became one of HBO’s biggest new series.
Thanks to its worldwide availability on other platforms like Sky Atlantic and NOW, millions more fans have been able to keep up with the Targaryen plots week by week.
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Even so, Ryan was keen not to let the franchise get complacent with its fan base and wanted to ensure the series wasn’t overstaying its welcome.
Thankfully, their plan clearly worked, and each episode of the prequel has pulled in an average of 29 million viewers.
The head writer also assured fans that season two won’t be quite as serious as this year’s outing, although he acknowledged they didn’t have the benefit of Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) to provide some much-needed levity.
“[There will be] natural pathways into moments of levity,” he said of the forthcoming follow-up.
“I think Matt Smith is very funny. If there is one character that does not care, it is Daemon.”
Both Daemon and his niece/wife Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) are expected to be major players in the remaining three seasons, although Game of Thrones frequently proves it’s impossible to bank on any given character’s survival.
A release date for season two is not yet known, though viewers should anticipate at least a year’s wait before a possible premiere in late 2023 or early 2024.
House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max in the USA and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.
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