House of the Dragon Season 2 may have felt a bit on the short side, but at least we know they won't be delaying the action forever.
During a post-finale press conference on Monday, showrunner Ryan Condal confirmed that the show will be finishing with Season 4 — and that Season 3 is starting up production early next year.
In terms of length, it also sounds as though eight-episode seasons may also be the new norm.
“I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it," said Condal, per Variety. "I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from a dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from Season 2 on.”
Speaking on the way Season 2 ended — basically a whole lot of setup for battles to come, and not much action — Condal said that they're trying to give the upcoming Battle of the Gullet plenty of breathing space, and that the action won't be too far away.
"We were trying to give the Gullet, which is arguably the most anticipated — well, I would say maybe the second-most-anticipated — action event of Fire & Blood, trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves. Obviously, as anybody that’s seen the finale, we're building to that event. That event will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling of House of the Dragon," Condal said.
"Based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing to date that we've pulled off," he continued. "And we just wanted to have the time, the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans and in the way it’s deserved."