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‘House of the Dragon’ will take 4 seasons to ‘do it justice,’ says George R.R. Martin

The author also confirmed he is working on "The Winds of Winter," the expected sixth book in the fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire."
/ Source: TODAY

As HBO’s “House of the Dragon” soon reaches its penultimate episode — historically, in the “Game of Thrones” series, the climactic chapter of the season — fans may be wondering how much more of the show to expect.

George R.R. Martin, the author behind the fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire” and “Fire & Blood,” upon which “House of the Dragon is based, shared his opinion on the matter this week.

George R. R. Martin attends LA Special Screening
George R.R. Martin in May 2019Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic

“It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish,” he wrote on his blog. (And as the show’s co-creator and executive producer, Martin presumably has some agency in making this happen.)

“House of the Dragon” has proven to be popular, bolstering its claim for a longer run: The Aug. 21 premiere drew the largest audience for any new original series in HBO’s history. The premium television network announced the show’s renewal less than a week later.

The first season covers 28 years of Westerosi history, according to Martin, right up until the start of the Dance of the Dragons, the civil war over succession to the Iron Throne. That leaves three 10-episode seasons for dragon fights and battles between the greens and the blacks, backstabbing and plenty of other twisted plotlines, along with some sort of resolution, to unfold. 

Martin also addressed the show’s time jumps on his blog: “Do I wish we’d had more time to explore the relationship between Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin, the marriage of Daemon and Laena and their time in Pentos, the birth of various and sundry children (and YES, Alicent gave Viserys four children, three sons and a daughter, their youngest son Daeron is down in Oldtown, we just did not have the time to work him in this season), and everything else we had to skip? Sure.”

The 74-year-old, who wrote for the TV show “Beauty and the Beast,” which aired from 1987 to 1990, noted that television seasons have shortened over time. “I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tale,” he wrote.

Many fans already know Rhaenyra’s fate, thanks to King Joffrey’s spoiler in the original “Game of Thrones” (this is, after all, a prequel), but as with any Martin enterprise, the ending — and which side “wins” — is only part of the story. But at least there is a definitive, published ending this time around.

As for that unfinished business? Martin said his focus right now is devoted to “The Winds of Winter,” the expected sixth novel in the fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”