When Is House of the Dragon Season 3 Coming Out?

The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, came to a surprising conclusion on Sunday night, as the eighth and final episode of the shortened installment wrapped the story up in a way few fans were expecting. No spoilers quite yet, but House of the Dragon Season 2 left things with a pretty massive cliffhanger, with every character on the verge of a key moment in the story. After that finale, fans are already anxiously awaiting the show’s third season, which may still take quite a long time to arrive.

HBO has renewed , but there hasn’t been any information about the next installment of the series. Production hasn’t started on new episodes and the cast haven’t talked about heading back to set just yet. All that to say, House of the Dragon Season 3 is further away than you want it to be.

House of the Dragon‘s first season aired in 2022, which means it took nearly two years for the show to return for Season 2. The production worked around multiple Hollywood strikes and shortened its episode count to eight and still took over a year from filming start to season premiere. Given how massive the scope of the show is, don’t expect a quick turnaround from season to season, though Game of Thrones did prove that annual seasons can be accomplished. The big difference here is the inclusion of the dragons, which take a lot of work to bring to life.

Another factor worth thinking about is the release of HBO’s second Game of Thrones spinoff series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. That series is already in production and HBO confirmed, with some early footage on Sunday night, that this new spinoff will be arriving in 2025. 

What does that have to do with House of the Dragon? Well, with The Hedge Knight airing on HBO next year, the premium network won’t be in as big of a rush to get House of the Dragon back on TV. The more likely scenario is Hedge Knight airing in 2025, followed by House of the Dragon Season 3 in 2026.

Nothing is confirmed at this point, which means just about anything can happen, but I wouldn’t plan on expecting new House of the Dragon episodes for at least a year and a half.

Based on George R.R. Martin‘s “Fire & Blood” book, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra, respectively. New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere every Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.

The cast for House of the Dragon includes Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.