'House of the Dragon' renewed for second season after successful premiere

MANILA, Philippines — HBO has given the greenlight to renew their latest series "House of the Dragon" for a second season after its premiere episode exceeded records and expectations.

Accoring to numbers provided by the network, the show's first episode "The Heirs of the Dragon" had almost 10 million viewers in the United States on premiere night, the most for a series opener and matched the numbers of sister show "Game of Thrones'" Season 6 opener.

Further data by HBO shows those numbers more than doubled over the next four days to over 20 million, prompting executives to announce a second season was a go.

The renewal bodes well for other "Game of Thrones" projects that HBO has lined up given the franchise still has its fans, with shows like currently in development.

Fire reigns. #HouseoftheDragon has been renewed for Season 2. pic.twitter.com/6CxhzC7SKv

— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) August 26, 2022

One question that arises is when the second season would come out as the debut season took over a year for shooting and post-production, not to mention each episode cost $20 million (P1.1 billion) so it is likely the earliest it would drop is sometime in 2024 with another set of 10 episodes.

"House of the Dragon" takes place 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones," chronicling the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros and how a family dispute over the throne signalled the impending doom of the dragon riders.

The series will cover what is known in George R.R. Martin's series of novels as The Dance of the Dragons where Rhaenerya (Emma D'Arcy, though currently played by Millie Alcock) and Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) argue over who succeeds their father Viserys (Paddy Considine).

Also starring in the show are Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Graham McTavish, Sonoya Mizuno, and Olivia Cooke and Emily Carey as Alicent Hightower.

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