House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal says we can expect season 3 to get even darker, as the show is staying pretty faithful to the Fire and Blood saga.
"I mean, I don't know. Do you, do we really expect happy endings in Westeros? I think this show goes to extremely dark places, places we've been, places we're yet to go," Condal said at a press conference attended by GamesRadar+. "But I will say, one of the big challenges of adapting Fire and Blood is not making this an aimless, bleak death march, just because of the nature of the history. It's based on The Anarchy, which is this very dark period. This one family that tears itself apart over whether a woman should sit on the throne. That's this great period in British history and the islands acting on either side."
It's wild to think that the show could get any darker given that House of the Dragon season 2 adapted the Blood and Cheese arc and gave us a brutal decapitation... but this is the world of Game of Thrones, after all. It can truly only get worse from here (and those of us who've read the books know that it absolutely does).
"I will say, you know, even, even the slimmest glimmers of light in the rain of the darkest storm, the single light through the cloud seems that much brighter," Condal continued. "Yeah, I think you know, we're crafting a very faithful adaptation of Fire and Blood and the history of Westeros at this point, but I acknowledge trying to leave people with some sense of, you know, hope and humanity, launching the Targaryens off into their next sort of chapter."
"And how much did they learn anything from this incredibly bleak and self-destructive part of their history? I don't think happy endings are on the menu, but I would say leaving the audience with something to hang their hat on at the end is something I'm taking very to heart, as we're now writing season four."
The series is set to end after season 4... and no spoilers, but, uh, it isn't going to be a good time for the Greens nor the Blacks. Luckily, the much more lighthearted Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is likely to continue on for a few more seasons... so at least we get to giggle in the face of tragedy. Plus, a feature-length movie and a stage play are also on the way, the latter set to debut on the West End at the end of this year.
House of the Dragon season 3 arrives on HBO Max this June 21 in the US, and June 22 on HBO Max, Sky, and NOW in the UK.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming TV shows to fill out your watchlist.
