The second outing will consist of eight episodes rather than ten.
One of the directors of House of the Dragon has explained why the second run of the hit Game of Thrones spin-off will be shorter than the first.
It was announced earlier in 2023 that season 2 of the fantasy show would consist of just eight episodes compared to the ten in its debut outing, but Clare Kilner – who helmed three episodes in season 1 – has revealed that those episodes won't be short of action.
Asked about the reasoning behind the shorter season during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said: "There are eight wonderful episodes with so much happening in every episode, and we have trouble, at times, bringing them down to one hour."
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She added: "Ryan’s [Condal, showrunner] decision was to give it a good opening and a good ending, and they’re jam-packed with emotional and visually exciting events."
It remains to be seen when the second season will arrive on our screens – Deadline previously reported it is likely to arrive in summer 2024, but no official date has been revealed at this stage.
House of the Dragon is one of few big shows continuing production during the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, due to the fact that the majority of actors on the series are UK-based and therefore working under Equity contracts – the UK union – rather than SAG-AFTRA ones.
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Production began on the season back in April, and showrunner Condal has teased fans that this time around the series will be more like Game of Thrones than the first run.
"Now we get to fall into the more traditional rhythms of storytelling and Game of Thrones. We’ve always talked about this particular tale, George [R R Martin] has too, of being a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy," he explained at the Deadline Contenders TV panel.
"This series is very much about a house tearing itself apart from within. Now that all those pieces have been set on the board, I’m really excited to tell the next chapter, to see what happens now that Viserys is gone and no longer keeping a lid on things."
Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide to find out what to watch tonight.
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Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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