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Kendall Myers
Published 39 minutes ago
Kendall Myers is a Senior Author with Collider. As part of the TV and Movies Features team, she writes about some of the most popular releases before, during, and after they premiere. In three years, she has written over 900 articles with topics ranging from classic sitcoms to fantasy epics.
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Game of Thrones has become more than just a show. HBO has turned it into an entire franchise, with two prequel series already created and plenty more potentially on the way. While the franchise has had some early ups and downs, HBO's recent announcement has gone a long way in correcting the biggest ongoing issue. 2025 has been a slow year for Westeros, but 2026 will take the franchise to new heights with both House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms releasing a season. This will be the first time HBO is releasing two shows from the franchise in a single year, but it turns out there's even more Game of Thrones on the way.
CEO Casey Bloys officially announced that both prequel series have been renewed, with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms coming back for a Season 2 and House of the Dragon renewed for Season 4. The franchise has always performed well with viewers, but it's early for this news, considering each has a season that hasn't yet aired. The announcement does more than speak to HBO's confidence in these series; it also proves that the company is finally addressing the franchise's biggest issue with long gaps between new seasons.
Long Gaps Between Seasons Hurt 'House of the Dragon's Momentum
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) kneeling in front of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and holding her hand in both of his in the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale.Image via HBO
The early renewals are great news for both shows, but it is especially telling for House of the Dragon. The prequel has never had problems earning a renewal, but Season 4's is especially quick. HBO announced Season 2 immediately after the Season 1 premiere, and Season 3 was confirmed even more quickly, just days before Season 2 began airing. However, House of the Dragon Season 3 doesn't even have an official release date yet. The next installment is set for the summer, making Season 4's renewal roughly six months in advance of the series, proving just how motivated HBO is to keep it moving, and with good reason. The series may not have struggled to gain viewers, with Season 1's finale becoming the most-viewed since Game of Thrones, but Season 2 saw a slight drop in viewership, likely in part because of the wait.
The time between seasons is a shift from Game of Thrones itself, which released eight seasons in only nine years, and House of the Dragon got off to a rough start, at least when it came to timeliness. Perhaps, after the reaction to the original series' finale, fans needed some time to come around on the idea of more Game of Thrones, but the franchise's popularity wasn't at its peak anymore. Though the epic fantasy show certainly takes time to produce, the longer a new season takes, the more the hype starts to wear thin. The danger of waiting is especially evident in House of the Dragon's Season 2 finale, which left off on an anticlimactic note, relying on Season 3 to provide the payoff. With seasons that are already short and so much time between new installments, fans' interest begins to wane. House of the Dragon's early renewal is a step toward remedying this issue.
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Posts By Jessica Toomer Oct 20, 2025'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' Won't Face the Same Issue as 'House of the Dragon'
Duncan and Egg in A Knight of the Seven KingdomsImage via HBO
For A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the renewal is more expected. The new show will premiere on January 18, taking the audience into a new time period of Westeros' history as it follows the hedge knight, Ser Dunk (Peter Claffey). While this renewal is only a few months early, it guarantees more of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, encouraging fans to get invested in the characters when the show is initially released. Even though fans have not yet gotten to pass judgment on the series, it isn't entirely surprising that there will be more, assuming it follows the published novellas. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has three arcs to complete, which logically translates to three seasons. If the latest spinoff gets the same attention as the rest of the franchise, the renewal is an easy choice.
Yet, what stands out about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms being renewed so early is that HBO is already combating the problem House of the Dragon struggled with by tightening the gaps between seasons. The announcement confirmed that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 2 will aim for a 2027 release, proving HBO is learning from its mistakes. The single-year gap is helped by the fact that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will have fewer episodes and, without dragons or an escalating war, it doesn't require quite the same scale as the rest of the franchise. Though Season 1 might leave the audience with questions about Dunk and Egg's (Dexter Sol Ansell) journey, viewers will not have to wait so long to see the next installment.
The Game of Thrones Franchise's 2026 Growth Won't Go to Waste
2026 will be a big year for Game of Thrones fans. With both House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms releasing a season, it will be the first time that fans get so much new content in a single year, and HBO is not wasting that momentum. These renewals promise more content, even if it is a few years away, and more importantly, they're proof that the franchise intends to return to its original plan of staggering its series releases. Originally, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was meant to run in 2025, filling the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 of House of the Dragon, but the new series' delay made that impossible. Though HBO is making up for it in 2026, the shift is unfortunate, as this setup would have helped the franchise remain relevant during the gap. Even though they are very different stories, all three series share common threads (the most obvious one being the Targaryens themselves), and that could have gone a long way toward maintaining interest. Yet, with the recent renewal announcement, HBO revealed that it plans to get the franchise back on track to release a new season every year, which will capitalize on 2026's momentum from its double release and perhaps help solve this issue for future installments of the franchise.
House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will premiere on HBO Max on January 18.
House of the Dragon
TV-MA
Drama
Action
Fantasy
8
10
Release Date
August 21, 2022
Genres
Drama, Action, Fantasy
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