We got an official taste of "House of the Dragon" season 2 last week with not one but two dueling trailers, prompting fans to publicly choose their allegiance between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and the Dragonstone crew, and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the King's Landing contingency. The trailer also confirmed the premiere date for the second season, which will hit HBO even earlier than we initially thought, on Sunday, June 16. And here's everything else you need to know about the release schedule of the new episodes.
The first season of the "Game of Thrones" prequel series — set nearly 200 years before the events of the flagship show and focuses on the succession war within House Targaryen — featured 10 hourlong episodes, capping off with that dramatic finale, "The Black Queen," on October 23, 2022. However, the second will only feature eight episodes in total, which will be released weekly every Sunday on HBO and Max.
'House of the Dragon' season 2 release schedule
- Episode 201: June 16
- Episode 202: June 23
- Episode 203: June 30
- Episode 204: July 7
- Episode 205: July 14
- Episode 206: July 21
- Episode 207: July 28
- Episode 208: August 4
There is little information on episode titles just yet, though the season 2 premiere is allegedly titled "A Son for a Son" and episode 4 will reportedly be called "A Dance of Dragons," which is what the Targaryen succession war is known as in the book series, George R. R. Martin's "Fire and Blood," on which the HBO hit is based.
It's also not yet known whether, as in the first season, every new episode of the Emmy-winning fantasy series will hover around the one-hour mark or if that big season finale on August 4 will have an extended runtime like some "Game of Thrones" finales.
And in terms of story, season 2 will pick up shortly after the events of the first season finale, which saw Rhaneyra be crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms following King Viserys' death. Already dealing with opposition from her half-brother, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), her reign becomes tragically more complicated when her son Lucerys is killed by the dragon of his uncle Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), which fires up the Targaryen succession war even further. And based on those trailers, it seems like "House of the Dragon" fans will be seeing more active changes to Rhaenyra's storyline than the book's version as a result.
Tom's Guide will keep you posted on all updates surrounding those "House of the Dragon" season 2 episodes, including titles, runtime and any schedule changes. And we've also got all of your intel about the various "Game of Thrones" spinoff series that are in the works, including the Dunk and Egg prequel and the Aegon the Conqueror series. You can also revisit the show's first season with a Max subscription before those new season 2 episodes drop beginning Sunday, June 16.
