“House of the Dragon” is back for Season 3, two years after Season 2 aired, and showrunner Ryan Condal understands fans’ “frustration” over the long wait.
“I get [it],” the creator of the “Game of Thrones” prequel series said during a recent HBO press conference attended by Page Six.
However, Condal explained that it’s “not possible” to release new episodes any quicker.
“It just takes a long time to make,” he said, noting that “prep and shooting” take a year, followed by an additional “seven months [to] eight months” for the special effects team “to make dragons.”
Condal told haters to “do the math.”
He added, “It’s not possible to come out every year. I’m very sorry, but you guys decided to be fans of the show called ‘House of the Dragon.’”
Social media users sounded off about the lengthy gap while awaiting Season 3, which premiered Sunday with several deaths and its weirdest incest moment yet.
“I hate these 2 to 3 year gaps between seasons now. House of the Dragon comes back tonight and I genuinely cannot remember a single thing that happened last season,” one fan wrote via X over the weekend, while another blasted the wait as “ridiculous.”
“I truly think if anything is going to kill ‘House of the Dragon,’ it’s the two-year gaps between seasons,” a third claimed.
Another fan pointed out on Reddit that viewers “got eight episodes to chew on for two years,” which was “not good.”
More posted that the long wait between seasons “instantly kills all excitement” — especially in a show where “a lot of people dress similarly and have goofy names.”
One fan insisted a consistent release schedule is needed in order for the audience to “keep track of who’s who … let alone remember who has what secret insidious plan.”
Others, however, defended the long wait since “that’s just how it is these days for big scale expensive shows with big casts and tons of VFX.”
“Game of Thrones” released seasons every year between 2011 and 2019, except for a single two-year gap ahead its final season.
Although “Game of Thrones” had fewer dragons than “House of the Dragon,” it featured three of the beasts, as well as significant visual effects and battles.
“House of the Dragon” is set more than 100 years before the original show and follows Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and her husband, Daemon (Matt Smith), as they fight a civil war against another branch of their family – including Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) — over who is the rightful monarch.
“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.
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