‘House of the Dragon’ Just Cast a Major New Character for Season 3

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'House of The Dragon' Season 3 Is Coming, Bless HBO

The Targaryen Dynasty will continue to reign on HBO, with more House of the Dragon coming our way for at least another season. Here's what we already know about House of the Dragon season 3.

Season 1 of the Game of Thrones prequel introduced us to the Targaryen civil war of succession by framing it as a friendship breakup. By the time Arya and Sansa Stark read about the Blacks and Greens, they know that Alicent Hightower, mother of the usurper Aegon II Targaryen, and Rhaenerya Targaryen, whose father King Viserys wished her to break the proverbial glass ceiling and sit on the Iron Throne, were rivals. But once upon a time, they were loving, caring childhood friends.

It makes the story of their families and allies tearing each other apart over greed and miscommunication, which would eventually be named the "Dance of the Dragons," all the more devastating. At the end of season 1, the war had just begun in earnest. Here's what we know about what could come next.

So is House of the Dragon coming back for season 3?

Yes yes yes!!! House of the Dragon was already renewed for season 3, just days before season 2's arrival on our TV screens. Team Black and Team Green will continue to duke it out.

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Showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal revealed in a press conference that the series will end with its fourth season and that the series will begin filming for season 3 in the beginning of 2025, according to Variety.

What would season 3 be about?

The series is based on a few chapters of House Targaryen lore in the fictional "history book" Fire & Bloodspecifically the ones that cover the "Dance of the Dragons" civil war. That conflict lasted for three years... which is wild considering that the first season of House of the Dragon took place over a decade thanks to some well-placed time jumps.

Honestly, it's hard to say who will be in season 3, because characters die very quickly on this show. But it seems that the war is going to keep raging because it's basically barely begun. Since I've read parts of Fire & Blood and know what's coming, I actually don't even want to tell you which characters it's safe to get attached so. Not many make it out alive. I'll leave it at that.

Is anyone new joining the cast?

Yes! In a bit of ~major~ casting news, James Norton is joining the cast in season 3 as Ormund Hightower. As a lover of the 2019 version of Little Women and the 2016 version of War & Peace, this is huge news for me personally. We don't know much about Ormund yet, but his character is identified as Alicent and Gwayne Hightower's cousin, the one who is leading the Hightower forces to King's Landing.

When would House of the Dragon season 3 come out?

There were two years between season 1 and season 2. As a lover of television, that's not ideal. They couldn't even blame the delay on last year's SAG-AFTRA strike, because actors in the UK are in a different union. I'm not hopeful, but fingers crossed that season 3 will be released in 2025, not 2026. With the exception of Game of Thrones season 8, which came out two years after season 7, the original series came out promptly every Spring/Summer for six years. Let's aim to get back to that, pretty please!!

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Except...Matt Smith, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Fabien Frankel admitted at New York Comic Con 2024 last October that they actually haven't read any of the scripts for season 3 yet. During their spotlight panel at the convention, moderator Josh Horowitz asked the guys if they even heard anything about what is coming up next.

"I've not heard hide nor hair," Matt admitted, before Fabien noted, "I've heard some things that I couldn't possibly share here."

All three actors did mention that scripts haven't been received yet, so looks like it'll be a longer wait until they find out what's happening next.

"The longer they take, you know, the longer we don't have to read anything for a while," Tom added. Whelp, that also means the longer we won't see it on our screens. Here's hoping we get some filming news soon!

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