House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has explained how the first season of the Game of Thrones prequel series set up the exciting second chapter.
Condal told Deadline of his plans for House of the Dragon Season 2 now all of the "pieces" have been put in place in the first season. He admitted it was a challenge to introduce new characters and tell a "three-generational story" in a single season, but that's only the beginning.
"I'm excited to pick up where we left off," he shared. "We did the hard, complex work of setting up this entirely new dynasty and family and all the players in Season 1 and took the time to do all the character work so you understood where everybody fell along the line of are they on Alicent's side of the equation, Aegon's side or are they on Rhaenyra's side and Daemon's side."
The sophomore season will reportedly only consist of eight episodes – two fewer than the first season. However, Condal is confident that it is enough to move the story along while capturing all of the drama now that King Viscerys is no longer around to sit on the throne.
"We did the hard, complex work of setting up this entirely new dynasty and family.
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"The excitement now is that we get to fall into the more traditional rhythms of storytelling and see where that story is going to go," Condal said. "We've always talked about this particular tale, and George has talked about it too, about this being a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy.
"Whereas the original series is like this big epic sweeping fantasy, about light and darkness, ice and fire, this series is very much about a house tearing itself apart from within," he continued. "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 is no longer keeping a lid on things."
If everything goes to plan, House of the Dragon will likely end up with four or more seasons, especially since its source material, Fire & Blood, is a lengthy novel that covers roughly 150 years of Westeros history under Targaryen rule, concluding with the Dance of the Dragons.
However, Game of Thrones fans who can't wait to return to Westeros for Season 2 of House of the Dragon will potentially have a wait on their hands to see the story of House Targaryen continue because the next chapter isn't expected to debut until the summer of 2024, at the earliest.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.