A lot of fans weren’t sure about Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, but the show managed to rack up some huge numbers last year and is expected to get a second season. Too bad for fans though, because it looks like the season will have to end earlier than the previous one.
Deadline reports that House of the Dragon will only feature 8 episodes—two episodes short of the first season, which had ten. The show was originally supposed to have ten like the last season, but rewrites have prompted for the series to only include eight.
I guess it’s also worth noting that HBO is still mulling over whether the show would get a third season; and the shortened Season 2 is a response not the show not yet receiving the greenlight.
If anything, there are pros and cons to having seasons that are too short or too long. The last season of Game of Thrones suffered from having the plot move at a breakneck pace because it didn’t have enough episodes to cover everything; but on the other hand, shows like Daredevil hot too draggy because the network demanded a specific number of episodes and the writers ran out of plot.
With House of the Dragon working on finished source material, I’m hoping the show manages to stick the landing better than Thrones did. It already did some great work with the character of Viserys, so I’m curious what could happen down the line for the Targaryens and Hightowers.
No release date has been announced for House of the Dragon 2, but you can catch the complete first season now streaming on HBO Max.
