House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones are both adapted from the works of George R.R. Martin, but with distinct challenges: Dragon is based on a history tome, while Thrones’ plot ended up advancing beyond that of Martin’s as-yet-unfinished book series. Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal knows endings are an issue in Westeros, and he’s already thought it through. A lot.
“We do know now where where we’re going to end this particular story,” he told a group of journalists, including io9, at a recent House of the Dragon season two press day. “When I say ended, I just mean drop the curtain on it—because of course, history moves on for another bunch of decades until the fall of the Targaryen dynasty, which is really kind of the end of the story, when the Mad King falls and Robert Baratheon overthrows the Iron Throne.”
Referencing a 2022 Martin blog post outlining a four-season plan for Dragons, Condal said “I’m not yet ready to talk about how many episodes or seasons we need. You know, we need to get there. But I know now—having gone through the process of writing and breaking season two and knowing where we’re going in season three—that we have a good plan, and we know the roadmap and how to get there.”
House of the Dragon’s early season two episodes bring a wider focus to the people of Westeros; while the schemes of House Targaryen still take center stage, the “smallfolk,” as the show calls them, now have more of a presence in the story.
“I think that the world of the show naturally expands as we move out of the world of season one into season two,” Condal explained. “It’s still very much about this very complicated family, and all the multiple POVs in it. But as you’ll see, there’s a particular reason that we’re starting to bring in these other characters from out of court life into the story as the season develops; so stay tuned, there’s a good reason for it. But on a dramatic level, it’s always interesting to me to humanize the smallfolk—because they’re the ones that suffer the most when the nobles in their high castles go off to war. They live a very hardscrabble life that’s sort of hand-to-mouth in the best of times. And certainly once the pressures of war come, that changes and does put pressure on on the people who live in the foothills of King’s Landing.”
House of the Dragon season two arrives June 16 on HBO and Max.
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