House of the Dragon fans fuming at two-year wait after ‘let down’ finale (2024)

House of the Dragon Season 2 official trailer

House of the Dragon viewers were left fuming after the second season ended with a huge cliffhanger and another two-year wait to find out what happens next.

No spoilers here, but the eighth episode of the Game of Thrones spin-off’s sophom*ore outing picked up with Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Emma D’Arcy) taking advantage of her swell in power.

Meanwhile, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) is concerned for Helaena (Phia Saban) and Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) rages are becoming impossible to reign in.

Thanks to the HBO drama’s ambitious scale and huge production costs, fans had already had to wait two years after season one wrapped up in 2022.

Add the fact that this season has already been truncated by two episodes down to just eight and many viewers were understandably upset when the finale concluded with another infuriating cliffhanger ending.

House of the Dragon fans fume at 2-year wait after ‘let down’ finale (Image: HBO)

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• House of the Dragon season 2 finale - Helaena’s prophecy and Aemond's fate

“HOTD season 2 finale was a dud in my eyes. Such a big setup that we will have to wait at least 2 years for,” one viewer fumed on X (formerly Twitter).

Another wrote: “HOTD Finale was a f***ing disappointment. Can't believe waited 2 years for this. S03 better be good!!!!” (sic)

“Just seen the season finally of HOTD and man that s**t sucked just like the last 2 episodes!” a third raged.

“No damn action and now we have to wait idk how many years for season 3.”

Aemond is becoming impossible to control (Image: HBO)

Over on Reddit, a disgruntled viewer commented: “You know, this season could use 2 more episodes. Would anyone honestly be opposed? Instead, 2 more years here we come.”

And another vented: “Cliffhangers worked in game of thrones because the seasons weren’t 8 episodes and didn’t take 2 years in between seasons. What a let down.”

While some fans enjoyed the episode on its own, they were still left disappointed by the season as a whole, debating whether it was actually worth the two-year hiatus.

“That was a great episode but an underwhelming season finale,” someone said on X.

Fans will have to wait two years before season three is released (Image: HBO)

“They spent the whole season building up to certain confrontations just to make us wait 2 more years to see them finally play out.”

Thankfully, a third season of House of the Dragon has at least been confirmed to be in the works by HBO, so fans don’t have to wait in the dark to find out if the spin-off will continue.

The network has also just teased another spin-off coming much sooner than House of the Dragon’s third season.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will follow George RR Martin’s fan-favourite characters ‘Dunk’, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and ‘Egg’, Duncan’s squire Aegon Targaryen (Dexter Sol Ansell).

Set 100 years after House of the Dragon and 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the first season consists of six episodes that will be released in 2025.

House of the Dragon is available to stream on Sky Go and NOW.