The ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel will get a second season as Sunday’s first-episode ratings climb to 20 million.
It’s official: Game of Thrones is a bona fide franchise. HBO has just renewed House of the Dragon for a second season.
The move came relatively quickly following the series premiere of Dragon on Sunday, which delivered 10 million viewers overnight — an HBO record for a series opener and roughly on par with the premiere of Game of Thrones season six. Now HBO reports that in the days since the show’s premiere, the first episode’s viewership has climbed to 20 million viewers in the U.S. across linear, on demand and HBO Max platforms.
“We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” says Francesca Orsi, executive vp, HBO programming. “Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. A huge thank you [to co-creator and executive producer George R.R. Martin and co-creator and showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik] for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”
HBO brass have been bullish on Dragon and previously suggested the company was eager to greenlight another round should the premiere come out of the gate strong.
The renewal may not just be important for Dragon‘s future. HBO has at least seven Game of Thrones spinoff projects in development (four scripted, at least three animated). Dragon opening well enough to warrant a speedy second-season renewal could bode well for at least one other project getting an eventual series order.
HBO did not say how many episodes will be in the second season, but another 10 seems like a safe bet.
The matter of when the show will return is a bigger question. The first season of Dragon required 10 months of filming and a massive amount of postproduction visual effects work, which began in January and is still ongoing. It will be difficult for the production to film and VFX another season by the end of 2023, so a 2024 return could be more likely.
The series stars Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders) as King Viserys Targaryen, Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy (Wanderlust) as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Prince Daemon Targaryen.
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