HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi has revealed why the House of the Dragon Season 2 episode count is lower than that of Season 1.
Why was the House of the Dragon Season 2 episode count lowered?
In a recent interview, Orsi explained that the middle section of the second season was “sort of treading water narratively,” leading to the episode count’s compression.
“There was some question about the narrative shape of Season 2. We were developing it with Ryan Condal and [EP] Sara Hess, and we realized that we were sort of treading water narratively in the middle of the season,” Orsi explained (via Deadline). “So it just felt much more rigorous, more urgent emotional arc for our characters if we compressed the season. And then that also dictated how we would kick off Season 3.”
Based on George RR Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon chronicles the rise and the downfall of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. It takes place 200 years before the events of the award-winning series adaptation of Game of Thrones, which aired its final episode in 2019.
The first season was led by Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. It also featured Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Graham McTavish, Ryan Corr, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Matthew Needham, Bill Patterson, Gavin Spokes, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Savannah Steyn , and Theo Nate.