House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal reveals why the show takes two years to produce new seasons.

Every House of the Dragon fan feels the same about the long wait in between seasons, and many of us keep wondering why the show would take almost two years to make. Game of Thrones managed to release a ten-episode installment per year, save for the last two seasons, so what’s the real deal with the prequel series?

Credits: Matt Smith in House of the Dragon / HBO Max

The extreme criticism that Season 2 faced was attributed to a lot of factors, and the amount of pressure to bring to life one of the most beloved works of George R.R. Martin on showrunner Ryan Condal has been tremendous and terrifying.

Ryan Condal Explains Why House of the Dragon Fans Have to Wait 2 Years in Between Seasons

For a show like House of the Dragon, it is imperative to have a deeper understanding of the lore. What’s unique about the source material is that author George R.R. Martin penned Fire & Blood like a historical account of the Targaryen dynasty. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire series, there is little to no character dialogue found in it.

Ryan Condal found this extremely challenging because they had fewer points of view here than in Game of Thrones. It took them a while to crack the code and focus on one aspect of the book which is that it is going to be “a Greek tragedy about this one family.”

Credits: Ryan Condal in SciFiNow / YouTube

He also explained in his interview with Gold Derby that while they had many references, such as characters and events in history, they did not have that many details found in the book. “There is a ton of invention required,” he noted.

They had to provide the dialogues of the characters and come up with certain subplots to make the show more interesting. This takes a lot of work, time, and effort as compared to having all the complete resources available at hand.

The showrunner previously echoed this in his conversation with IGN and even apologized for the two-year gap. “The show is so complex that we’re really making multiple feature films every season, so I apologize for the wait,” he said, promising that they are going to “pull off a hell of a win” for the upcoming Battle of the Gullet scene which hopefully will happen in Season 3.

When Will Season 3 Start Filming?

Credits: Emma D’Arcy in House of the Dragon / HBO

The upcoming third season is expected to feature the most intense battles in Westeros, and last August, the showrunner confirmed via Variety that they have started drafting the script. Production is reportedly scheduled to begin in “earlyish 2025.”

Regarding the number of episodes, Condal said he hasn’t discussed it yet with HBO. Season 2 consisted only of eight episodes, to the dismay of fans, and even more so because of the anticlimactic finale. Hopefully, we’ll receive more updates soon about the show’s progress.

House of the Dragon is currently available to watch on HBO.