House of the Dragon season two release date has finally been announced

Dragon lovers rejoice

The Game of Thrones prequel was released last August to acclaim from critics and fans alike and drew in record breaking viewing figures for HBO. Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” book “Fire & Blood,” the HBO show follows the Targaryen dynasty in the fictional continent of Westeros.

It takes place nearly 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones” and about 100 years after the Targaryens united the Seven Kingdoms under their rule.

The show was renewed for a second season just one week after the first episode aired, and began filming in April this year. Crucially, the scripts for the upcoming series were completed before the Writers Guild of America strike and the SAG-AFTRA strikes this summer, which put a halt on production of a number of huge series.

So, there's been very little delay to production plans or release plans.

HBO network chief Casey Bloys has now revealed when fans can expect to see the second season of House of the Dragon, Variety reports.

Speaking at a press event in New York on Thursday, Bloys said the series will premiere in "early summer" next year.

This means the series could be released as early as May 2024.

Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy will all be reprising their roles for season two, along with Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans.

We'll also see some new characters Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, Simon Russell Beale as Ser Simon Strong, Freddie Fox as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull.

Fans can expect to see more conflicts and infighting within the Targaryen family as the show charts the eventual downfall of their rule (and their dragons) and their descent into civil war.

Fire & Blood author Martin has previously said it will take "four full seasons of 10 episodes each" to do justice to the Targaryen story.

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