George R. R. Martin Wants House Of The Dragon To Last Four Seasons

"House of the Dragon" has been absolutely killing it on HBO. The "Game of Thrones" prequel series is getting all kinds of praise from both critics and viewers. The show currently sits at a nice 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the 8th episode, "Lord of the Tides," earning an illustrious 9.5/10 on IMDb.

It seems that the sour taste the final season of "Game of Thrones" left in everyone's mouth is gone because "House of the Dragon" has had massive viewership since its premiere. Nielsen reported that the first episode saw 327 million minutes of viewing in the first couple of hours after its premiere (via The Hollywood Reporter). According to HBO, "House of the Dragon" began the company's biggest premiere to date, with almost 10 million people tuning in across both HBO Max and its premium channel (via CNBC).

The show adapts parts of author George R. R. Martin's book "Fire & Blood," which tells the history of the Targaryens' rise to and fall from power. It takes place almost 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones," 100 years after House Targaryen united the Seven Kingdoms under their banner. And so far, the 1st season has followed King Viserys Targaryen's (Paddy Considine) unorthodox naming of his daughter, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), as heir to the throne and the civil war that ensues following his death. Season 1 takes its time setting up these events — known to fans of the books as the Dance of the Dragons — and features numerous time jumps throughout its first eight episodes. Because of its break-neck pacing, fans aren't sure how many seasons HBO plans to make. However, Martin recently revealed the answer to that question.

Over on his blog, George R. R. Martin sneakily revealed that HBO plans to give "House of the Dragon" four seasons. "It's going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish," Martin said. His statement matches up with what The Hollywood Reporter mentioned in their overview of the show. The media outlet reported that HBO planned to run the series for three of four seasons in order to tell the entire civil war story.

Martin also shared his opinions regarding the time jumps in "House of the Dragon." He addressed that he would have loved to give the show more episodes a season to flesh out many of the things the time jumps glossed over, but it just wasn't practical. He went on to remark about how TV seasons have only gotten shorter over time, with his childhood shows lasting 39 episodes a season, whereas now, some barely reach 10. He related "House of the Dragon" to Amazon's hit series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," which saw massive success with only an eight-episode first season. Martin also suggested that if "House of the Dragon" were to have 13 episodes per season, many fans would complain that the series was too slow, so there's really no winning.

Martin commended "House of the Dragon" showrunner Ryan Condal, saying he's done a fantastic job with the show, especially with the numerous time jumps throughout. He mentioned that Condal's complete focus now turns to Season 2, while Martin's is still finishing his long-awaited next novel, "The Winds of Winter."

"House of the Dragon" is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday.