House of the Dragon Season 4 will be the end of the series but not the franchise

While HBO has not yet confirmed if House of the Dragon Season 4 will happen, there is some bittersweet news for the fans. Assuming it does, showrunner Ryan Condal has confirmed that this will be the last of the series.

So far, House of the Dragon Season 3 is confirmed. TVLine notes that the episode count hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but it looks to be around eight episodes long based on Condal’s wording. Many fans would prefer to see 10 episodes as was the case with the first season.

The second season finale has just aired. Season 3 is set to go into pre-production this fall, with production starting in 2025. It likely means a 2026 premiere for the third season.

House of the Dragon ending with Season 4 makes sense

I say that the news of Season 4 being the last is bittersweet is because there is some good news to it. It’s not like this story could go on and on. There is an end point to the Dance of the Dragons in the book Fire & Blood. The Targaryen Civil War doesn’t go on forever, as we know with Game of Thrones, where the Targaryens rule for some time until there is another war in Westeros to take down the house.

So, having a plan to end the series makes sense. It means that the storyline can be mapped out to ensure that important moments are told.

Yes, this is a series that has changed sotyrlines here and there. This is a complaint of some book readers, but some of the changes make sense considering the way the book is written. It’s not a strict novel, and a telling of history in the world of Game of Thrones.

There are still some big moments to come in the third, and presumably fourth, seasons. We have The Battle of the Gullet, the Battles of Tumbleton, Rhaenyra taking King’s Landing, and much more. The series has just set up the stepping stones for those moments in the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale.

It's not the end of the franchise. There are various other Game of Thrones spin-offs in the works, including a Dunk & Egg one. While the Jon Snow spin-off has been canceled, fans hope to see an Arya Stark one to see what is west of Westeros.