House of the Dragon showrunner gives an exciting update about the next seasons

Ewan Mitchell and Olivia Cooke in House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO
Ewan Mitchell and Olivia Cooke in House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO

While we’re still waiting for House of the Dragon season 3, we’ll take in any news that we can. It’s probably best to listen to everything involving Ryan Condal right now, as he does have a few updates here and there.

The latest exciting news came from the Maximum Auction Tonnage ’25 podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of. It’s even early on in the podcast, starting at around the 3-minute, 30-second mark and lasting no more than five minutes.

Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 1.
Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 1. Photograph by Ollie Upton / HBO.

House of the Dragon season 3 has started post-production

The first bit of exciting news is that House of the Dragon season 3 has started its post-production phase. At first, Condal said that the show had finished post-production, but he corrected himself, saying that they had just started it. This is about right, considering House of the Dragon season 3 will premiere in summer 2026.

While there still isn’t a release month, we did get a potential update from Matt Smith recently. He shared that it’s potentially arriving in August, and that now does track with post-production starting. Due to the amount of CGI needed in a show like House of the Dragon, it takes months to get through the eight episodes.

Some post-production work had already started, making it possible for images to be released and some shots for the teaser for HBO's 2026 shows. This would suggest that war is coming early on, which the season 2 finale did hint at.

House of the Dragon season 3
Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 3. Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO

House of the Dragon season 4 news as well

On top of that, we have some positive news about House of the Dragon season 4. After sharing that the season 3 post-production work was underway, he also shared that the writing work on House of the Dragon season 4 had started, in earnest, a couple of months ago.

This is before the news came out that the fourth season was officially happening, but it’s likely that some quiet deals were happening in the background. We also know that Condal started writing the fourth season even without the renewal, knowing that he needed it to finish telling the story. At the time, House of the Dragon season 4 was going to be the end, but now he’s not too sure.

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James Norton in House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO

There’s more work for Ryan Condal now

While there is a lot of work that goes into the production of a show, it’s the post-production and writing process that ends up being more hectic. Well, they end up being busier in terms of people looking at him and the amount of work to get done, and the teams are “skinnied down” during the post-production and writing processes compared to production.

There are fewer people, and more eyes are on him. However, there is a positive note that the hours are better. So, it’s not a vacation, and he is hard at work bringing us the next part of the Game of Thrones universe.

House of the Dragon season 3 will arrive in the summer of 2026 on HBO and HBO Max.

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