House of the Dragon has been renewed for Season 4 at HBO, and the network has revealed the first photos from House of the Dragon Season 3 to add to the excitement. The photos feature Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen. Season 3 comes out in summer 2026.
HBO announced the drama’s renewal and premiere year during the HBO and HBO Max 2026 content slate presentation, hosted by Casey Bloys, on Thursday, November 20, in New York City. The network has also renewed its newest Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, for Season 2 ahead of its series premiere on Sunday, January 18.
Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, presented HBO and HBO Max’s 2026 content slate to a group of press. The presentation included teaser trailers for much of its upcoming programming, including House of the Dragon Season 3, which, as previously reported, will feature the Battle of the Gullet from George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood, the spinoff’s source material. The battle was brewing at the end of the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale. The Season 3 footage shown to journalists on Thursday was action-packed. Bloys and HBO did not confirm if Season 4 will be the Game of Thrones spinoff’s last, as previously stated by series co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal.
“For all of the shows, we generally try to leave it to the creators to make that decision,” Bloys told journalists. “We’ll work with them. Sometimes people will work through the season to feel like, does it feel like a natural end, does it not? So, I don’t have updates for you on any of that, but when we do, I’ll let you know. Nothing definitive.”
The first photos from House of the Dragon Season 3 show D’Arcy (above) and Smith (below) as their silver-haired Targaryen royals. Rhaenyra is gazing at her crown with a determined look in her eye and a powerful stance. Daemon, meanwhile, is bloody on the battlefield. Daemon doesn’t fight in the Battle of the Gullet in the book, and that battle is also fought on the sea (with the help of dragons in the air), so this is some other battle on land that Daemon will fight in.
Ollie Upton/HBO
House of the Dragon Season 3 was filmed from March to October 2025. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming season of the Game of Thrones spinoff.
When does House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere?
Season 3 comes out in summer 2026. An exact premiere date will be announced at a later time.
Bloys told Deadline in September 2025 that House of the Dragon Season 3 is eyeing a summer 2026 premiere “just outside of [the 2026 Emmy eligibility window].” The 2026 Emmy window is June 1, 2025, to May 31, 2026, so House of the Dragon Season 3 will premiere in June at the earliest. That means the third season will be eligible for Emmys at the 2027 Emmy Awards.
Who is in the House of the Dragon Season 3 cast?
The Gold‘s Tom Cullen plays Ser Luthor Largent, Andor‘s Joplin Sibtain is Ser “Bold” Jon Roxton, and The Sandman‘s Barry Sloane plays Ser Adrian Redfort, HBO announced on April 23. All of these characters are characters from George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood.
Also joining Season 3 are Tommy Flanagan as Ser Roderick Dustin and Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly. Their castings were announced on March 31, along with the start of production announcement and video. The first new cast member for Season 3 was James Norton, whose casting was announced on January 31, 2025. He joins the series as the book character Ormund Hightower. He’s previously been seen in Grantchester and Happy Valley and will star alongside Game of Thrones alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the upcoming series King and Conqueror.
Flanagan is known for playing Filip “Chibs” Telford in Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans M.C. spinoff, Cicero in Gladiator, and more. Fogler starred in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, A Complete Unknown, The Offer, and more.
Ormund is Otto’s nephew, Alicent and Gwayne’s cousin, and the Lord of Oldtown. He is presently leading the Hightower host in a march on King’s Landing to support his house against Rhaenyra.
The fight for the Throne is far from over.
S3 of #HOTD is now in production. pic.twitter.com/NUe4POwIJM
— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) March 31, 2025
Returning stars are D’Arcy, Smith, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim. Unless she appears in flashback form or in some kind of vision as seen at Harrenhal this season, Eve Best will not be back as Rhaenys. Her character met her tragic fate in the Battle of Rook’s Rest, depicted in Season 2 Episode 4.
D’Arcy is seen in costume as Rhaenyra in the start-of-production video shared on X/Twitter, above. The slate D’Arcy holds in the video reveals that they’re working on a scene from Season 3 Episode 3 on the first day back on set.
Based on Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tells the story of House Targaryen. War has broken out between the two sides of the family after Alicent Hightower (Cooke) usurped the Iron Throne in favor of her son, Aegon (Glynn-Carney), at the end of Season 1, robbing Rhaenyra (D’Arcy) of her inheritance. This was followed by the death of Rhaenyra’s young son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) at the hand of Aemond’s (Mitchell) dragon Vhagar. Season 2 revealed what happened after those tragic events, ending with the setup for one of the most intense battles from Fire & Blood, the Battle of the Gullet, in Season 3.
Season 3 directors are Clare Kilner, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Andrij Parekh, and Loni Peristere. Production credits are: Co-Creator/showrunner/executive producer Ryan Condal; Co-Creator/Executive Producer, George R.R. Martin; Executive Producers Sara Hess, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Vince Gerardis, David Hancock, Philippa Goslett.
How many episodes will there be in House of the Dragon Season 3?
Liam Daniel / HBO
HBO’s March 31 announcement confirmed that Season 3 will consist of eight episodes.
House of the Dragon Season 2 was shortened to eight episodes following the 10-episode second season. Condal was asked about the anticipated episode count for Season 3 during the press conference, to which he replied, “I haven’t had discussions with HBO about it. I would just anticipate the cadence of the show, from dramatic storytelling perspective, will continue to be the same from Season 2 on.”
What will happen in House of the Dragon Season 3?
The Season 2 finale ended with an intense buildup to a major battle from the book, the Battle of the Gullet. Condal said to expect that battle to take place early in Season 3, in addition to explaining why it wasn’t in Season 2. He said it will be “the biggest thing to date that we’ve pulled off.”
“We were trying to give the Gullet, which is arguably the most anticipated — well, I would say maybe the second-most-anticipated action event of ‘Fire & Blood,’ trying to give it the time and the space that it deserves,” Condal told journalists in an August 2024 press conference, per Variety. “Obviously, as anybody that’s seen the finale, we’re building to that event. That event will happen very shortly in terms of the storytelling of House of the Dragon. Based on what we know now, it should be the biggest thing to date that we’ve pulled off, and we just wanted to have the time, the space to do that at a level that is going to excite and satisfy the fans and in the way it’s deserved.”
The Battle of the Gullet is a fight between Rhaenyra’s forces and Aegon’s, now led by Aemond. As teased in the Season 2 finale, the battle is fought by air and sea. Dragons and their dragonriders will face off as Corlys (Toussaint) leads his fleet in battle against the greens’ naval arsenal. The finale showed Tyland Lannister (Hall) successfully recruiting an armada from Essos to Aegon’s side, led by the Triarchy Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn). They’ll face off in the Gullet, the stretch of water between Driftmark and Dragonstone. Blackwater Bay opens into the Gullet.
Condal says they “wanted to build” more “anticipation toward” this epic battle in Season 2, per Hollywood Reporter. “I know everybody wants this to come out every summer,” he said. “It’s just that the show is so complex that we’re really making multiple feature films every season. So I apologize for the wait, but I will just say if Rook’s Rest and the Red Sowing are any indication, we’re gonna pull off a hell of a win with the Battle of Gullet in the future.”
House of the Dragon, Season 3 Premiere, Summer 2026, HBO
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