House Of The Dragon Star Promises Season 3 Will Blow Past The First Two
A House of the Dragon star just teased what's coming in season 3 — and it's sounding wilder than ever.
House of the Dragon is apparently done clearing its throat. Olivia Cooke just teased season 3, and if you thought season 2 was too restrained, it sounds like the show is about to swing the dragon doors wide open.
What Olivia Cooke just said
While doing press for her upcoming series The Girlfriend, Cooke told Collider that the next chapter does not ease in gently. Her words, not mine:
'It starts off with a bang.'
'The first two episodes were essentially supposed to be our finale last year.'
Translation: the opening of season 3 was originally designed to be the end of season 2, which explains why she also called it 'bigger and more ferocious than ever before.' Inside baseball, but a very telling peek at how the production reshuffled the deck.
The showrunner is backing that up
Showrunner Ryan Condal has been hinting at the same thing. On his podcast with David Mandel, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (as picked up by ComicBook.com), he talked about walking the sets and being floored by the scale — more builds, more costumes, more extras — and realizing season 3 is bigger than season 2 by a wider margin than he expected. If you were among the folks underwhelmed by how quiet some of season 2 felt, this is the reassurance you wanted.
Quick refresher: where we are in the story
- Set two centuries before Game of Thrones, the series tracks the Targaryens at the start of their slide and their power struggle with the Hightowers.
- Season 1 spans roughly 20 years: King Viserys (Paddy Considine) breaks tradition and names his daughter Rhaenyra (played across the timeline by Milly Alcock and Emma D'Arcy) as heir, irritating his brother Daemon (Matt Smith). Things get messier when Viserys has a son with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who is not exactly shy about palace politics.
- Season 2 escalates: after the death of Rhaenyra's son and the coronation of King Aegon II, hardliners on both sides push for full-blown war to seize control of Westeros.
Where and when to watch
House of the Dragon airs on HBO and HBO Max in the US, and on Sky and NOW in the UK. Season 3 is slated for 2026. I will keep you posted as the date firms up — especially if that 'bang' turns out to be multiple bangs in the first two episodes.