2025 has been a quiet year for the Game of Thrones franchise, but that should be about to change. 2024 brought us House of the Dragon Season 2 - and all the discourse that came with it, including some hefty criticism from George R.R. Martin himself - as well as major spinoff updates, such as Kit Harington's Jon Snow sequel being scrapped, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 being filmed, and even talk of a potential Thrones movie. This year hasn't had much that can compete.
However, things will likely turn around starting on Thursday, October 9th. That's when the New York Comic-Con panel for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will take place, with Martin himself in attendance alongside the show's cast, Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell, and co-creator, Ira Parker. As well as more updates on the series, including, perhaps, a firm release date, it's also widely believed we're finally going to see a trailer for the series. Filming wrapped in September 2024, and footage was shown around the same time. There should be plenty they could reveal, and this would make the most sense to give us a new look at the prequel at last.
The launch of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' promotional campaign alone is worth getting excited about. Based on Martin's The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, this is a chance to do something different with the franchise. Something less epic, without dragons, yet no less interesting. After the series was delayed from 2025 to 2026, seeing some real footage beyond a few seconds, which essentially amounts to a handful of images, is long overdue, and I can't wait to see how it's shaping up.
From there, if the mooted January 2026 release date holds, then we can expect HBO to continue giving the series a strong marketing push. But that probably won't be the only Westeros show it's promoting before this year comes to an end. It's currently expected that House of the Dragon Season 3 will premiere around June 2025, which should mean we get a teaser around late November or early December.
That tracks with filming, which is set to finish this month, and with previous years of the show: Season 2's first teaser trailer was released on December 2nd, 2023, with the season itself then premiering on June 16th, 2024. Something similar would make sense for Season 3, so it's worth anticipating some footage around then, and perhaps some images and official casting news as well.
Of course, there is a wrinkle in this, which is that HBO has never promoted two Game of Thrones shows at the same time before. 2026 will be the first time two have aired in the same year, and simply the first time it's had two active Westeros shows. It needs to balance selling House of the Dragon, while also ensuring the more immediate focus is on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and it'll be interesting to see if that delays the push for the former, or how else they'll approach it. Either way, it feels like an exciting time for the franchise, and hopefully, it can get back on track after the divisive nature of HOTD Season 2.