After a few years of false starts, the Game of Thrones universe is finally becoming the well-oiled machine that HBO has tried to create. Since Thrones ended in 2019, the studio has toiled away at a handful of spinoffs. House of the Dragon is its first success on that front, and after a few bumps in the road, another Thrones prequel — A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — is finally ready for its own debut.
HBO seems eager to give these shows sustainable momentum. We’ll still have to wait for House of the Dragon to return with its third season and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to debut, but both shows have been renewed for additional seasons. Better still, HBO has a concrete release schedule in mind, and it begins in earnest in 2026.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been set for an early 2026 release date since HBO released its first trailer, but it won’t be the only Thrones show to air next year. House of the Dragon is also officially set to return, with Season 3 dropping sometime in the summer (Season 2 premiered last June, so Season 3 could follow suit). Season 2 of Knight also has a tentative release window: it will premiere in 2027, while Season 4 of House of the Dragon is set for 2028.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms won’t be the only Thrones spinoff airing next year.
“We are thrilled to be able to deliver new seasons of these two series for the next three years, for the legion of fans of the Game of Thrones universe,” Francesca Orsi, head of HBO Programming, said in a statement. “Together, House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reveal just how expansive and richly imagined George R. R. Martin’s universe continues to be.”
These plans are subject to change — there’s no telling what obstacles could pop up in the next three years — but this is still a good development for a franchise that had been struggling to truly take off. Both House of the Dragon and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms have fallen prey to delays and inconsistent schedules, and Dragon’s second season ended on an underwhelming note. But with a third and fourth season planned, the series has multiple chances to regain its footing and deliver the epic drama fans have been hoping for. A season renewal for Knight also speaks to HBO’s confidence in that lighter series. Ideally, more spinoffs will find their way out of production purgatory, but this is a great start.
