House Of The Dragon Star Confirms Production Progress & Explains How She’s Preparing for Her Character

EXCLUSIVE: House of the Dragon's cast and crew are preparing for the grand finale.

House of the Dragon season 4, expected sometime in the next few years, is confirmed to be the last in the Game of Thrones spinoff series. Charting the civil war for the Iron Throne between different factions of House Targaryen, House of the Dragon has been generally well reviewed and launched several stars to new levels of fame. Now, one of the leads reveals when production will start.

In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, Olivia Cooke, who plays Queen Alicent Hightower, acknowledged that leaving behind House of the Dragon will be hard for her. "I know we're getting prepared to say goodbye to House of the Dragon. Have you already started your preparation process for the final season?" the star was asked.

Cooke responded: "I haven't. I haven't. We start filming next spring, but I don't really know. I'm sure it'll take me ages. You know, I'm English. My emotions are far, far deep down. [...] you know a year later that I'll finally feel the grief from that show ending." Cooke has been one of the show's headliners since midway through the first season, when she stepped into the role of Alicent, who was played as a teenager by Emily Carey.

Image via HBO

Cooke has shared many complicated, emotional scenes with Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, the de facto main character of the series. Rhaenyra and Alicent were the best of friends when they were young, but were torn apart when Rhaenyra was named the heir to the Iron Throne, later to be challenged by her half-brother, Alicent's son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Surprisingly, Cooke does not feature that much in House of the Dragon's season 3 finale. Having been sent away from King's Landing by Rhaenyra on a dangerous mission — which Alicent agrees to in order to secure her and her daughter Helaena's (Phia Saban) freedom — Alicent is not present when a devastating event takes place, and does not yet know what she has lost in the final moments of the season.

Assuming that the fourth season follows the hiatus-release timeline of the previous installments, House of the Dragon will return in mid-2028. The prequel helped launch HBO's extended Game of Thrones universe, as more spinoffs have entered development, and one has even come to fruition: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which was an even bigger hit on HBO earlier this year.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 is slated to arrive first, aiming for early 2027. In the meantime, House of the Dragon will be eligible for the coming awards season, with D'Arcy already being a two-time Golden Globe nominee for the first two seasons. The legacy of House of the Dragon isn't quite yet set in stone, but it was doubtlessly an important experience for the cast, who will have to move on soon.

All episodes of House of the Dragon are available to stream on HBO Max.