House of the Dragon has been renewed for a second season on HBO, which comes as no surprise following the show’s record-breaking premiere on Aug. 21.
Given its predecessor, Game of Thrones, dominated TV for eight seasons, this could be the beginning of another years-long reign for the fantasy franchise based on George R. R. Martin’s books. (The author is also an executive producer on the series while Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik are co-showrunners.)
“We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO programming, said in a statement. “Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. A huge thank you to George, Ryan, and Miguel for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”
While the premise for the next season remains unconfirmed, we can expect a dive deeper into the history of House Targaryen, just like the show’s source material, Martin’s Fire & Blood. Season 1 is slated to cover the civil war called the Dance of Dragons and the events leading up to it, but the family’s fraught history certainly doesn’t end there.
The official season 2 cast hasn’t been announced yet, but the season 1 cast features Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Additional cast includes Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn.
It’s unclear if everyone’s characters will survive to see season 2. This is the Game of Thrones world after all. No one is safe.
This story will be updated.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.