It’s been a tough few months for fans of HBO’s House of the Dragon. The Game of Thrones prequel‘s season 2 finale received overwhelmingly negative reactions after it aired. Many criticized it for failing to bring the season to a satisfying close and focusing more on setting up exciting moments to come in future episodes. In case that wasn’t bad enough, shortly after House of the Dragon‘s season 2 finale premiered, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin publicly criticized the HBO series for several of the creative decisions made throughout its sophomore season.
Unfortunately, this weekend has brought House of the Dragon fans another disappointing update. According to Variety, cast members Tom Glynn-Carney and Matt Smith revealed during a New York Comic-Con panel for the show that they don’t really know what the status of House of the Dragon season 3 is right now. When asked whether they’d seen or read a script for the season yet, Glynn-Carney responded, “Not a jot, not a letter.” The actor added, “The longer they take, the longer we don’t have to read anything for a while.”
“I’ve not heard hide nor hair,” Smith similarly admitted. “I don’t know about you guys. I’ve not heard a thing.” Fabien Frankel, his House of the Dragon co-star and fellow panel member, had a different response, however, when asked by Smith whether he’d heard anything about the show’s next season. “I’ve heard some things that I couldn’t possibly share here,” Frankel teased.
House of the Dragon was officially renewed for a third season in early June ahead of its season 2 premiere. Co-creator Ryan Condal has also confirmed that the current plan is for the Game of Thrones prequel to run a total of four seasons. In August, Condal additionally noted that he and HBO hope to start shooting House of the Dragon season 3 in “earlyish 2025” and commented at the time that the season was already in the midst of being written. The fact that Smith and Glynn-Carney, two of House of the Dragon‘s biggest stars, haven’t heard anything yet about the events of its third season is, therefore, surprising.
In his now-deleted blog post criticizing the series, Martin did specifically spoil at least one key House of the Dragon season 3 plot point that he believed the show was on the verge of completely bungling. It’s possible his comments have forced Condal and his fellow House of the Dragon writers to reconsider their plans for its next season. It’s also possible the season’s writing phase is simply taking longer than fans might expect, or that Condal and co. have chosen to withhold its scripts from the show’s cast for the time being.
Regardless of the reason, this is undoubtedly not the update House of the Dragon fans have been waiting or hoping to hear.
House of the Dragon seasons 1-2 are streaming now on Max.