“House Of The Dragon” fans were flummoxed last year when Season 2 ended quietly and after only eight episodes. Deadline reports that HBO‘s Head Of Drama Series and Films Francesca Orsi promises that won’t be the case in Season 3, and the network has even more in store for the “Game Of Thrones” faithful.
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“I’m really excited. I think you’re going to be in for a great surprise on how we start the [season] with an exciting battle,” Orsi said of “HoTD” S3, which starts production soon. And Orsi confirmed that HBO intended S2 of the series to have ten episodes, but cut it to eight so they could give the highly anticipated face-off between the Blacks and the Greens, the Battle Of The Gullet, its due justice in Season 3. “You know what, it was worth the wait,” Orsi continued about the upcoming battle “I was just on set and saw all the elements and what was behind it. I’m so glad we waited because it’s going to be better than ever, and I don’t think we had the time at that point to do what it is that we’ve achieved now this season.”
Orsi promises “Game Of Thrones” fans that the Battle Of The Gullet will be worth the wait. “It’s just so massive, we needed the time to build it,” Orsi said of the set’s scale. “One of the lead producers on it [Kevin de la Noy] worked on “Titanic,” so all that he brought in terms of acumen of what happened on the Titanic and how that entire experience is built, he brings that expertise to it.” The Drama chief also praised showrunner Ryan Condal for his prep work on the scene. The battle sequence requires a “tremendous number of resources, construction, armor, costumes and visual affects needed to give the Gullet, which is arguably the second most anticipated action event of “Fire and Blood,” the time and the space it deserved, continued Orsi. “We are building to that event.[and] it will be the biggest thing to date we have pulled off.”
The Battle Of The Gullet isn’t the only major thing on the way for “Game Of Thrones” fans; there’s also “A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms,” the upcoming spinoff based on George R.R. Martin‘s Dunk and Egg novella trilogy. Orsi confirmed that Martin has indeed watched rough cuts of the new six-episode season, adding, “he loves it.” Martin spoke about screening the series on his blog last month, writing “I’ve seen all six episodes now (the last two in rough cuts, admittedly), and I loved them. “Dunk and Egg have always been favorites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible.”
“A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms” follows Peter Claffly as Ser Duncan The Tall and Dexter Sol Ansell as his squire, the young prince Aegon Targaryen, in a prequel story set 90 years before the events of the original series. Orsi confirmed HBO plans to make three seasons of the spinoff, and, if Season 1 fares well with audiences, they’ll renew the series and shoot the final two seasons back-to-back. The main reason? They want to shoot the entire series before ten-year-old Ansell grows out of the part. “The role of Egg only spans not even a year, so you have to roll into it season to season pretty quickly, because this little kid will grow up too quickly if we wait too long,” said Orsi. “So we’re thinking about that in terms of pickups.”
And Orsi teased that the next “Game Of Throne” spinoff HBO greenlights will not be a smaller-scale, cost-efficient production like ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms.” “We have other spinoffs that we’re working on right now, one of which — which I won’t get into — is very promising, and it is still the Targaryen line,” said Orsi. Maybe that means a series that will cover Aegon’s conquest of Westeros and his infamous downfall?  Orsi wouldn’t elaborate, but added, “There’s a number of other spinoffs, we can’t really guarantee what’s going to go forward, but we are very big budget on the other ones. I would say [“A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms”] is the most intimate one.”
“We have other spinoffs that we’re working on right now, one of which — which I won’t get into — is very promising, and it is still the Targaryen line,” Orsi said. “There’s a number of other spinoffs, we can’t really guarantee what’s going to go forward, but we are very big budget on the other ones. I would say this is the most intimate one.”
“A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms” will premiere on HBO and Max sometime in late 2025. Stay tuned for an official release date.