George R.R. Martin has revealed how many seasons House of the Dragon will need to be in order to tell the full story of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.
"It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish," the author wrote on his blog. So far, the Game of Thrones prequel has been renewed for season 2 after record-breaking viewing figures for season 1, so things are looking promising. Season 1 has 10 episodes, so we can assume the same will be true for season 2.
Martin also shared his thoughts on the show's pacing, writing: "Do I wish we’d had more time to explore the relationship between Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin, the marriage of Daemon and Laena and their time in Pentos, the birth of various and sundry children (and YES, Alicent gave Viserys four children, three sons and a daughter, their youngest son Daeron is down in Oldtown, we just did not have the time to work him in this season), and everything else we had to skip? Sure."
Ser Harwin Strong, played by Ryan Corr, was the lover of Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and the real father of her dark-haired children, Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey. Their relationship was not given much screentime, with the character being introduced and killed off in the same episode.
The marriage of Daemon (Matt Smith) and Laena (Nanna Blondell) was similarly only given a few scenes in one episode before Laena died, and Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) only have three children: Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond.
"If HOUSE OF THE DRAGON had 13 episodes per season, maybe we could have shown all the things we had to 'time jump' over," Martin continued. "Though that would have risked having some viewers complain that the show was too 'slow,' that 'nothing happened.' As it is, I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tale."
House of the Dragon airs on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max, before following on Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. Make sure you never miss an episode with our handy House of the Dragon release schedule and keep up to date with our guides to the House of the Dragon timeline and the Targaryen family tree.
