The second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, is scheduled to begin filming very soon, and Deadline has learned that the sophomore run will be slightly shorter than its first.
According to the trade, House of the Dragon season 2 will consist of 8 episodes - 2 fewer than the critically-acclaimed debut season, which concluded last November.
This development comes amid recent belt-tightening measures at HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, although the decision to go with a shortened second season is said to be more story-driven.
House of the Dragon’s creative team are said to be planning for the series running for 3 or 4 seasons. Season 3 has been "mapped out and may be greenlighted with HBO seriously considering committing to moving ahead with scripts, casting and a production plan as the network too is trying to think long-term instead of season-to-season."
Apparently, "a portion of the plot originally intended for Season 2, including a major battle," is now being saved for season 3. If we had to hazard a guess, this battle is likely the culmination of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of Dragons, which will see two major characters clash in a mid-air skirmish.