TV SERIES · 2022–present · USA
House of the Dragon
- Created by
- George R.R. Martin, Ryan J. Condal
- Network
- HBO
- Seasons
- 3
- Episodes
- 26
- Studio
- HBO, Bastard Sword, 1:26 Pictures
39 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
The Targaryen dynasty is at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins when King Viserys breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and…
Summary: TMDB
All facts (39)
- #001
In 2015, while Game of Thrones was still in production, HBO executives approached A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin about possible successors or spin-offs to the series.
- #002
George R. R. Martin said in November 2018 that a potential spin-off series would draw solidly on material from Fire & Blood.
- #003
Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss said they wanted to move on from the franchise and declined involvement in later projects.
- #004
By September 2019, a Game of Thrones prequel from George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, described as tracking the beginning of the end for House Targaryen, was close to a pilot order from HBO.
- #005
House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019.
- #006
Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik were chosen as showrunners for House of the Dragon; Sapochnik had won an Emmy Award for directing the Game of Thrones episode "Battle of the Bastards".
- #007
In 2016, Ryan J. Condal pitched a series based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg, but HBO initially declined it.
- #008
House of the Dragon is a reworking of a rejected Game of Thrones spin-off concept by writer Bryan Cogman, which HBO officially passed on.
- #009
The inspiration for House of the Dragon came from English medieval history and the Anarchy, the 12th-century war of succession that followed the death of Henry I of England.
- #010
In January 2020, HBO's president of programming, Casey Bloys, stated that writing on House of the Dragon had begun.
- #011
House of the Dragon's writers include Ryan J. Condal and Sara Hess, who had previously written for Deadwood and Orange Is the New Black.
- #012
George R.R. Martin took part in pre-production on House of the Dragon, giving input on storylines and reviewing scripts and rough cuts.
- #013
House of the Dragon was renewed for a second season on August 26, 2022, less than a week after its premiere.
- #014
Miguel Sapochnik stepped down as director and co-showrunner of House of the Dragon for the second season on August 31, 2022, though he stayed on as an executive producer.
- #015
Alan Taylor, a director of episodes of Game of Thrones, joined House of the Dragon in season two as an executive producer and director.
- #016
On his personal blog in December 2023, George R.R. Martin stated that the third and fourth seasons of House of the Dragon are being written.
- #017
House of the Dragon was renewed for a third season in June 2024, ahead of the second-season premiere, and the third season also consists of eight episodes.
- #018
After the second season finished airing in August 2024, Ryan J. Condal said House of the Dragon is intended to end after the fourth season.
- #019
House of the Dragon was renewed for a fourth season in November 2025, with release expected in 2028.
- #020
According to Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin had considered making House Velaryon a house of black aristocrats who came to Westeros from the culturally diverse Valyria while writing the novels.
- #021
Although the change in House Velaryon's ethnicity initially drew criticism from fans, publications and commentators said it helped distinguish between the many characters of the Velaryon and Targaryen families.
- #022
The writers of House of the Dragon chose to present the events of Fire & Blood in chronological order and from a third-person perspective, aiming to make the story clearer for viewers.
- #023
Fire & Blood is framed as a history book by an in-universe fictional historian who studies the Targaryen dynasty and its civil conflicts, which makes some of its recorded accounts second-hand and potentially speculative or distorted.
- #024
Unlike Fire & Blood, the novels of A Song of Ice and Fire use a third-person limited perspective, with each chapter told from a character's immediate point of view.
- #025
In September 2024, author George R. R. Martin published and then deleted a blog post that criticized Ryan Condal and other showrunners for past and planned changes to the source material of House of the Dragon.
- #026
In March 2025, Ryan Condal spoke about creative tensions with George R. R. Martin, pointing to disagreements over how material from Martin's Fire & Blood was adapted for House of the Dragon.
- #027
Ryan Condal told Entertainment Weekly that his past collaboration with George R. R. Martin had been "mutually fruitful" but that differences had emerged over the show's narrative direction, and he said he learned of Martin's blog post secondhand and was disappointed.
- #028
After a deleted blog post by George R.R. Martin, the working relationship between Martin and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan J. Condal continued to deteriorate. Martin described the post in a THR interview as "80 percent [...] praise, but that’s not what people focused on".
- #029
George R.R. Martin objected to Ryan J. Condal's vision for season three of House of the Dragon during a Zoom call, and Martin allegedly said, "This is not my story any longer."
- #030
Following that Zoom call, HBO asked George R.R. Martin to entirely step back from House of the Dragon.
- #031
A few months later, George R.R. Martin was brought back aboard production for season 3 of House of the Dragon, with an HBO insider stating that they "figure[d] out a new way forward".
- #032
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2026, George R.R. Martin described his relationship with Ryan J. Condal as "abysmal" and said changes from the source material Fire & Blood affected key plot points.
- #033
Martin said that during the first season of House of the Dragon he and Condal worked as partners: he read early script drafts, gave notes, and Condal changed some things.
- #034
According to Martin, in the second season Condal essentially stopped listening to him: his notes led to nothing, and Condal sometimes explained why he was not acting on them or said he would think about them.
- #035
Martin said HBO eventually told him to submit all his notes to the network, which would pass its combined notes to Condal.
- #036
George R.R. Martin serves as a co-creator and executive producer on Season 3 of House of the Dragon.
- #037
Casting for the first season of House of the Dragon began in July 2020.
- #038
Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best and Sonoya Mizuno joined the main cast of House of the Dragon in February 2021.
- #039
Fabien Frankel joined the cast as Ser Criston Cole by April 2021, and in July 2021 Emily Carey and Milly Alcock were added as younger counterparts of Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia House of the Dragon — Wikipedia
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work