House of the Dragon season 3 is expected to start filming sometime in 2025

Rhaenyra Targaryen is gunning for King’s Landing as we head into season 3 (Image credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO)

– Announced in mid-June
– No release date confirmed by HBO
– Expected to start filming in early 2025
– Numerous cast members expected to return
– Should pick up right after the season 2 finale
– Likely to be more action-packed than its predecessor

– Will be the second-to-last entry in the show’s four-season run

Send a raven to all who don’t know, because House of the Dragon season 3 is on the way. That’s right, the Game of Thrones prequel series is getting another installment, and we’re here to deliver the latest news and rumors about its development ahead of its eventual debut.

Indeed, we sent our spies to learn everything about House of the Dragon‘s third season and report back once they had some juicy intel to pass on. Thanks to their investigative work, we’ve got plenty of details to share with you, including our prediction on when it’ll be released, its probable cast, potential storylines, and more.

Full spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 2 and George R.R. Martin’s ‘Fire and Blood’ novel, which the show is based on. Proceed at your own risk, dragonseed.

House of the Dragon season 3 release date prediction

House of the Dragon season 3’s release date hasn’t been revealed. So far, HBO has only confirmed House of the Dragon is returning for a third season, with the critically acclaimed fantasy series being renewed for another outing on June 13.

Days before its third season was greenlit, co-showrunner Ryan Condal told TechRadar that work on House of the Dragon‘s next season was already underway. Indeed, Condal shared that script work had been ongoing for some time, although it’s unclear how many have been completed.

So, when do we expect season 3 to arrive on our screens? Speaking during a press conference after the season 2 finale aired, Condal said (as reported by IGN) that the cast and crew were aiming to start shooting the third season “early-ish 2025”. If, like its forebear, principal photography on season 3 takes five months to complete, that would mean filming won’t wrap until July or August 2025. There was a nine-month gap between the end of season 2’s shooting schedule and its release date, too. If its sequel season’s post-production phase is similarly lengthy, we wouldn’t expect House of the Dragon to debut until April or May 2026.

House of the Dragon season 3 trailer: is there one?

Rhaenyra and Alicent won’t appear in a season 3 trailer for many, many months (Image credit: Liam Daniel/HBO)
No. We won’t see one until much closer to season 3’s launch, either, so don’t be shocked if one isn’t released online until early 2026.

House of the Dragon season 3 expected cast

Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy will be back as Daemon and Rhaenyra in season 3 (Image credit: Ollie Upton/HBO)
House of the Dragon season 3’s cast list hasn’t been confirmed yet but, based on how its predecessor ended, here’s who we expect to see next time:

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen
Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower
Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower
Steve Touissant as Corlys Velaryon
Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole
Harry Collet as Jaecerys Targaryen
Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon II Targaryen
Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen
Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen
Bethany Antonia as Baela Targaryen
Phoebe Campbell as Rhaena Taragaryen
Kurt Egyiawan as Grand Maester Orwyle
Matthew Needham as Larys Strong
Kieran Bew as Hugh Hammer
Tom Bennett as Ulf White
Clinton Libert as Addam of Hull
Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull
Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria
Jefferson Hall as Jason and Tyland Lannister
Freddie Fox as Gwayne Hightower
Simon Russell Beale as Simon Strong
Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers
Abigail Thorn as Sharako Lohar

That extensive list of actors is likely to be added to. Some characters, who have integral roles to play during the Targaryen civil war, haven’t shown up in HBO’s TV adaptation yet. That includes Daeron Targaryen, Ormund Hightower, Dalton Greyjoy, Roderick Dustin, and Manfryd Mooton, among others. Until we know how much of ‘Fire and Blood’ will be adapted in season 3, though, we can’t say which of these individuals will definitely turn up as part of next season’s plot. Speaking of which…

House of the Dragon season 3 plot speculation

Prince Regent Aemond Targaryen has got a lot to contend with heading into season 3 (Image credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO)

Full spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 2. Potentially big spoiler also follow for ‘Fire and Blood’.

Predictably, season 3’s story brief hasn’t been unveiled yet. Based on House of the Dragon season 2’s finale, what co-showrunner Ryan Condal has said recently, and what we know from ‘Fire and Blood’, though, we can determine what’ll happen next time out.

Let’s start with some non-spoiler-based details. Responding to a query about how many episodes there’ll be in this third season of one of the best Max shows’, Condal told reporters (per Variety): “I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from a dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from season 2 on”. In layman’s terms, then, we can expect the series’ next chapter, like its predecessor, to comprise eight episodes instead of 10, which season 1 contained.

On the topic of why season 2 had two fewer episodes than its forebear, Condal told TechRadar: “Once season 1 landed and we knew where we were in the narrative, we had a clear path of view to the end and knew what the end of this particular chapter in the Targaryen history was. Looking at that, and knowing essentially how much storytelling time we needed to get there, there was a bit of a rebalancing of the narrative that was necessary to happen. This eight-episode cadence helped us to find that.”

If Condal, alongside fellow co-showrunner and Game of Thrones franchise creator George R.R. Martin, have already plotted out a roadmap for every season of House of the Dragon, they’ll know where each one will begin and end. If eight-episode installments are all that’s required to tell the rest of the story in ‘Fire and Blood’, it wouldn’t make sense to diverge from the course they’ve charted.

But enough of season 3’s possible episode count. What can we expect to see in House of the Dragon‘s next entry? Given the clear lack of action in its predecessor’s finale – Condal previously told TechRadar that season 2 wouldn’t “just be big dragon events”, nor would it be “full of action” – we’re hoping for some tentpole battles to make up for it. Indeed, fans were left unimpressed by the dearth of large-scale set-pieces in season 2; something Condal was forced to defend in the post-season 2 finale press conference (per IGN).

Anyway, the eighth and final episode of House of the Dragon‘s second season ended with Team Green and Team Black’s pieces being moved into position ahead of what’ll be a brutal and lengthy conflict where thousands – humans and dragons alike – will unnecessarily die. That’s despite Alicent effectively allowing Rhaenyra to take the Iron Throne without a fight, which the pair agreed upon in their secret Dragonstone meeting in season 2 episode 8.

‘The Fall of King’s Landing’, aka chapter title in ‘Fire and Blood’ that sees Rhaenyra return to the Six Kingdoms’ capital, will surely be the first big moment we’ll see in season 3. It’s unlikely there’ll be much bloodshed – or, rather, as much as there would’ve been in Rhaenyra and her dragonriders had tried to take King’s Landing by force – but, don’t worry, there’s bound to be plenty more carnage elsewhere.

Things didn’t look good for Otto Hightower in the season 2 finale (Image credit: Ollie Upton/HBO)
Why do we say that? Because, from this point on, there are numerous bloodbaths that’ll play out on the screen. We’ll only mention the first of those – The Battle of the Gullet – because it was discussed at length by Condal as part of his post-season 2 finale press conference.

“That event (The Battle of the Gullet) will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling in House of the Dragon,” he admitted (as reported by Screen Rant). “Based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing to date that we’ve pulled off, and we just wanted to have the time and the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans in the way it deserves. And, we also wanted to build some anticipation towards it.

“The show is so complex that we’re really making multiple feature films every season, so I apologize for the wait. But, I will just say, if Rook’s Rest and the Red Sowing are any indication, the team that we have together, we’re going to pull off a hell of a win with The Battle of the Gullet.”

There’ll be plenty more to look forward to in House of the Dragon season 3, including classic storytelling elements we’ve come to expect from the Game of Thrones franchise, such as betrayals and political infighting, familial melodrama, horror-esque sequences, and even the odd R-rated joke. If you were underwhelmed by what season 2 had to offer, its sequel should make up for it.

What to watch while we wait for House of the Dragon season 3

Helaena has seen these three fantasy shows in your TV watchlist future (Image credit: Ollie Upton/HBO)
Want to pass the time with other high fantasy shows before House of the Dragon season 3 arrives? Here are three similar series to check out, as recommended by our senior entertainment reporter Tom Power:

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones set a new benchmark for prestige storytelling on the small screen. (Image credit: HBO)