House of the Dragon season 3 release, cast plans, and what we know so far

House of the Dragon’s second season has come to an end by filling the chess board with pieces and meticulously moving each one into position. While that didn’t make for the most explosive season finale in Game of Thrones history, it should shape up for a fantastic third season.

To give you a preview of the events to come, here’s everything we know about House of the Dragon season 3, which HBO has already greenlit.

Is House of the Dragon season 3 happening?

It’s definitely happening, and the announcement was made before season 2 even premiered. On top of that, creators Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin have talked about keeping the show to a tight four(ish) seasons, and the show remains one of HBO’s most popular programs, so you can likely expect at least one more after season 3 as well.

When will House of the Dragon season 3 release?

While we don’t know anything official, it seems reasonable to expect House of the Dragon season 3 will arrive sometime in 2026. The gap between season 1 and season 2 was about two years, which would certainly suggest that we could see a similar gap between seasons 2 and 3. On top of that, HBO is supposed to release the new Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in late 2025, which should fill that year’s allotment of Westeros content.

What will House of the Dragon season 3 be about?

Without going into the book spoilers, House of the Dragon’s season 2-ending montage certainly gave us some big clues about the future of the series. For instance, we know that Daemon is back on Team Rhaenyra for real now, and we know that the pair of them — along with their newly anointed dragon riders — are setting off for King’s Landing in the hopes of taking it quickly via overwhelming force. Meanwhile, Team Green is all over the map. Alicent is committing treason, Aegon is hiding away with Larys, and Aemond is setting fire to anything in site. All of this while every non-Targaryen house in Westeros prepares for open war.

In other words, we’ve got the makings of a very exciting season 3.

Should I read the book House of the Dragon is based on in the meantime?

Sure, why not! On the one hand, reading the Dance of Dragons chapters in Fire & Blood will help you understand the broad strokes that House of the Dragon is going to hit pretty well. On the other, it also won’t give you too many spoilers, because the show is adding incredible amounts of detail to events the book only sketches out briefly. In other words, the book is basically like watching an extended trailer for the rest of the show, which — depending on your preferences — can be a great way to kill time between seasons.

Will Winds of Winter come out before House of the Dragon season 3?

Almost certainly not. And even if I did believe it might, I’d never jinx it by saying so out loud. For now, I’m going to continue to operate under the assumption that The Winds of Winter will probably not come out until hell freezes over, or the New York Jets (or much less likely, the Giants) win the Super Bowl, and so should you.