When Game of Thrones ended in 2019, fans were eager to see how HBO would keep the franchise alive.
Shortly after the show ended, HBO began developing multiple new projects set within the world of Westeros. After careful consideration, HBO decided to turn back the clock for its first spinoff project with a series set decades before the events of Game of Thrones with the launch of House of the Dragon.
The series took fans back to the earlier days of House Targaryen at the height of its power to explore how the battle for power left the once powerful house in shambles. The series became an instant hit for HBO and has helped to carry the torch in the post-Game of Thrones world since its premiere in 2022.
Season 3 is set to arrive this summer on HBO and fans are eager to see what the next season will bring for both the characters they love and the characters they love to hate. We already had anticipated that House of the Dragon would be one of the biggest shows of 2026, but the arrival of season 3 is bittersweet as its arrival inches us one step closer to the end of the show.
House of the Dragon season 4 will be the show’s final season
All good things must come to an end, and we’re in the home stretch of House of the Dragon’s run on HBO. For years fans have anticipated that House of the Dragon would run for four seasons, and that fear seems to have been confirmed by showrunner Ryan Condal.
During an episode of the Escape Hatch podcast posted in late December, Condal revealed that work on season 4 had already begun. In discussing the already renewed fourth season, Condal revealed season 4 will be the show’s final season, confirming the longstanding plan for the series to run for four seasons.
"It's good. It's definitely, like, turned a big page here. And now, also knowing there's only, you know, one more left to go and feeling like we can leave it all out on the field, you know, because we've started the writing process for season 4, which will be the last one. So, yeah, it's all trending up in a good way.”
For years, fans has been working off the assumption that House of the Dragon would run for four seasons, but the creative team and HBO have typically danced around questions about when exactly the show would end. It seems that dance has ended with Condal making it clear that season 4 will be the final chapter in the show.
While it's disappointing to know that the show is entering its final stretch, knowing we're nearing the finish line is actually quite exciting. With the show nearing its end, fans are in store for some of the show's most epic and shocking moments yet -- including the deaths of several prominent characters likely to perish in the upcoming third season.
Knowing that Condal is going to stick to his original timeline and end the show with season 4, rather than trying to stretch the series out is actually for the best. There is a clear plan in place for the show and it's adapting of Fire & Blood. As much as we'd love more of the show, we'd much rather see the show stick its ending and not drag things out just for the sake of trying to get additional seasons.