Producers Give Conflicting Reasons for Shorter ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2

HBO A scene from the shorter second season of "House of the Dragon."

The season 2 finale for “House of the Dragon” airs on Sunday night, August 4 with its eighth episode. But season 1 of “House of the Dragon” was longer, airing 10 episodes total. Why is season 2 shorter than season 1? The reasons given in interviews for the shorter season are conflicting.

A director for the hit HBO series told The Hollywood Reporter that they made this second season shorter in order to ensure it had a strong ending. But a producer told Entertainment Weekly they didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Meanwhile, an editor for Deadline said rumors indicated that the season was shorter as part of a long-term plan that involved shifting a major battle from season 2 to season 3.

The book’s author George R.R. Martin said in a blog post that he would have preferred 10 episodes a season.

The ‘HoTD’ Season Is Shorter to Make Sure It’s ‘Jam-Packed,’ a Director Shared

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director and co-executive producer Clare Kilner said that showrunner Ryan Condal wanted to keep the “Game of Thrones” prequel’s second season short in order to make sure it was “jam-packed.”

“There are eight wonderful episodes with so much happening in every episode, and we have trouble, at times, bringing them down to one hour,” Kilner said. “Ryan’s decision was to give it a good opening and a good ending, and they’re jam-packed with emotional and visually exciting events.”

Kilner said the second season had five directors  working on the season, and they’re all “a bit competitive.”

A Producer Said the Shorter Season Was Out of Their Hands

However, accounts of why the season was shorter differ based on who is asked. While a director said the reason was deliberate, a producer indicated differnetly.

Executive producer and writer Sarah Hess told Entertainment Weekly that the shorter season “wasn’t really our choice.” However, she declined to elaborate on what she meant.

A Major Battle Was Shifted to the Third Season

Nellie Andreeva, Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV, for Deadline, shared exclusive insights that she heard before the second season aired. The second season is shorter because of a “long-term plan” for the series that could include a third or fourth season, she revealed.

Before the second season premiered, the show was already renewed for a third season, ET reported.

Deadline reported that the initial plan was for 10 episodes in season 2, but that was trimmed to eight episodes for “story-driven” and not budget reasons. This decision necessitated moving a major battle to season 3, Deadline shared.

George R.R. Martin Initially Wanted 10 Episodes a Season

In a blog post written in October 2022, “House of the Dragon” and “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin said he was glad “House of the Dragon” had 10 episodes a season, instead of only eight like “Rings of Power” or six like “Dark Winds.”

“I hope that will continue to be true,” he wrote. “It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish.”

Martin added that if they had more than 10 episodes, they could have done more with certain characters, like Daeron.

“Do I wish we’d had more time to explore the relationship between Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin, the marriage of Daemon and Laena and their time in Pentos, the birth of various and sundry children (and YES, Alicent gave Viserys four children, three sons and a daughter, their youngest son Daeron is down in Oldtown, we just did not have the time to work him in this season), and everything else we had to skip? Sure,” he wrote. “… If HOUSE OF THE DRAGON had 13 episodes per season, maybe we could have shown all the things we had to ‘time jump’ over… though that would have risked having some viewers complain that the show was too ‘slow,’ that ‘nothing happened.'”