While working on House of the Dragon season 3, there were hints that a fourth season would happen. Showrunner Ryan Condal had made it clear that the fourth season would be the last, and there was just the wait for HBO to renew the show.
Well, the renewal has come through. That wasn’t all that surprising considering how popular the Game of Thrones franchise remains. House of the Dragon season 4 is slated to premiere in 2028, which also isn’t surprising when you consider there has been a two-year break between each season so far.
What is surprising is that House of the Dragon season 4 may no longer be the last season. The question now is whether this is a good thing or not.
Ryan Condal may have more story to tell in House of the Dragon
When Condal originally planned out the seasons, he thought that the story would come to an end after four seasons. Things have changed since then. Condal is currently in the process of writing House of the Dragon season 4, and he’ll see how it looks once he has made it to the end. If there is more to tell, then he will be open to that.
What about HBO, though? Bloys didn’t state if House of the Dragon season 4 would be the end. Instead, he gave his boilerplate answer about HBO wants to make sure the creatives tell the story that they want to tell, according to Deadline. This isn’t a bad way to go as a network, as it means a show isn’t dragged on for too long, but it also means a series can tell the full story.
“For all of [our] shows, we generally try to leave it to the creators to make that decision. We’ll work with them. Sometimes, people will work through the season to feel like, ‘Does it feel like a natural end? Does it not?’ So, I don’t have updates for you on any of that. But when we do, I’ll let you know.”
Of course, it could also mean that a story is rushed, as is what happened to Game of Thrones. But it keeps the work in the creatives’ hands rather than a network overstepping.
Will House of the Dragon need more than four seasons?
When Condal announced that he would only go to four seasons, there was a sense of acceptance in that. As much as we would love to see more of Daemon Targaryen, there is an endpoint to the story of the Dance of the Dragons. Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin gives us the basics of the story, although it’s told from what the maesters remember and want to share rather than the actual story.
This means that there is a point the story has to come to an end. While Condal has made some changes to the story we know from the books, the ending can’t change all that much. The Dance of the Dragons has to end, or it wouldn’t make sense for the canon already set in Game of Thrones. It’s not like the characters can live forever, and it could disrupt potential future plans to extend the universe based on the source material.
However, four seasons may not be enough to tell the story in full. It all depends on the big moments that are focused on throughout the next two seasons. I do still think four seasons will be enough, five at a push.
House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max.