House of the Dragon Season 3 First Reviews: Kicks Off with a Bang and Only Gets Better
Critics say this season is packed with more spectacular dragon action than before, anchored by magnetic performances and intimate storytelling.
While viewers wait to return to the Seven Kingdoms this month with the June 21 premiere of House of the Dragon Season 3, the first reviews are now online and more positive than ever. The Game of Thrones prequel series continues to depict House Targaryen’s war of success as it leads into the notorious “Dance of the Dragons,” and it’s said to be the most action-packed installment yet.
Here’s what critics are saying about House of the Dragon Season 3:
97%
Will fans be happy with its return?
House of the Dragon is still spectacle TV worth tuning in for.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
If you want spectacle, without much behind it, you’ll be pleased.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
In its third season, House of the Dragon remains engrossing and rewarding.
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
What fans have come to love about the series is what it will be appreciated for in Season 3: its characters are better than ever.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
While more hardcore audience members may nitpick the finer details of Condal’s adaptation of Martin’s work, casual audience members will get exactly what they are craving.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
The series is still thrilling, and some moments still remind us of how great both it and Game of Thrones once were.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
Those who tired of all the talking in Season 2 and crave wall-to-wall action will consider this chapter similarly slow.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
How does it compare to previous seasons?
It’s the series’ best so far…the visual effects and cinematography are both a vast improvement over the first two seasons.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
House of the Dragon Season 3 picks up after what was a disappointing back half of Season 2 and returns the show to the highs we were accustomed to.
— Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, Fangirlish
Complaints of nothing happening last season have been remedied… There seems to have been a realization in the writers’ room not only of what made the show so interesting when it premiered in 2022.
— Kaiya Shunyata, RogerEbert.com
While not perfect, Season 3 is leagues better than Season 2.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
In many ways, [it’s] the same… still too packed, too narratively rushed and, as much as I’m certain passionate fans will disagree, the surplus of dragons and special effects has become somewhat anticlimactic.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
The show wants to be a chess match, not a battle epic. And that could make this the best chapter yet.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
Is it starting to improve upon Game of Thrones?
Its third season only proves well what fans already knew: it stands tall next to its predecessor, with the possibility of finishing stronger and being better.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
House of the Dragon would never work without its ensemble, a cast operating at a level that rivals and even often surpasses the best that Game of Thrones had to offer.
— Matthew Jackson, Looper.com
Season 3 also continues to lean into the narrative’s magical elements, making it feel even more high fantasy than Game of Thrones.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
There are dozens upon dozens of characters, and this is an intricately plotted fantasy even in its lightest episodes, but I never had such an issue with Game of Thrones.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
How does it compare to the show’s other spin-off?
Like January’s franchise spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the faithful will be pleased.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
[With some of the new episodes], I could pretend that the things I liked about that show were being brought to the surface in this one.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Does it kick things off with a bang?
Season 3 takes off like fire straight from the dragon’s throat, and just never lets up…The first episode is one of the best, most jam-packed hours of TV you’re likely to see this year.
— Matthew Jackson, Looper.com
House of the Dragon Season 3 wastes no time getting into the dark and gritty. The Battle of the Gullet is a massive, devastating spectacle, and it just gets wilder from there.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
One of several pivotal confrontations that will likely allay concerns about continued treading of water… the Battle of the Gullet is indeed spectacular.
— Alison Herman, Variety
It’s artificially huge and artificially bloody, and there are dragons doing dragon things…Oh, and in the first couple of episodes, there are deaths, big deaths, big meaningless deaths.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
The first two episodes feel like the exciting and inevitable conclusion that season two so desperately needed.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
Season 3 starts strong with blistering bloodshed, but it also affirms that its quiet cliffhanger in Season 2 wasn’t a mistake.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
Are there even better episodes later?
In its ensuing episodes, it demonstrates that it’s additionally pretty good when it comes to on-the-ground combat performed with giant swords on muddy, fiery fields.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
The third episode of the season is a standout… as Rhaenyra attempts to rein in power before losing her grasp.
— Kaiya Shunyata, RogerEbert.com
The third episode of the season and, to a lesser degree, the fourth were my favorite House of the Dragon episodes to date. Why? Because they were funnier, smarter, and a little more intimate in scale.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
The third episode is an interesting divergence from the typical tone and story of House of the Dragon, especially compared to the first two episodes, and the gamble by Condel and episode writer Sara Hess may not work for everyone.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
Is there plenty of dragon action?
It’s grandiose and filled with dragon action on a scale unlike anything else the show has attempted before.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
If you’re in it for the dragons, you’ll be pleased with the effects this season. From detailed close-ups to thrilling shots of them soaring across the sky or engaging in warfare, the dragons certainly live up to their godlike glory.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
The visual effects team has outdone themselves, giving these massive beasts a terrifying, majestic weight that makes them feel entirely real.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
The dragons are as mesmerizing as ever, fully realized and astonishing in detail. Each time one dies, it is a heartbreaking tragedy.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
It’s the people who make House of the Dragon worth enduring the predetermined devastation. The dragons are just the CGI flying lizards on top.
— Alison Herman, Variety
Just because you have the technological capacity to do a battle scene with four dragons and thousands of CG boats doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be better with two dragons and, heaven forbid, some practical effects.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Are there any other reasons to enjoy this season?
To my mind, the more exciting development in Season 3 is much more intimate in scope than hordes of troops descending into chaos… a rewarding return by House of the Dragon to its roots.
— Alison Herman, Variety
For all its emphasis on boisterous, capital-E events, House of the Dragon just works better when it’s a bunch of people talking in a room.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
There is an added layer of emotional weight here. The betrayal feels more personal now, and the wounds deeper.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
[The show] has suddenly remembered that it can be entertaining without filling the frame with dragons.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Does it have good writing?
The writing is smart and keeps you guessing.
— Megan Lachinski, Next Best Picture
The writing has become more agile, more versatile, able to inject more character into each action and reaction.
— Matthew Jackson, Looper.com
In its attempt to fit everything in a neat linear narrative, House of the Dragon has written itself in more corners than one, and even the tremendous performances and spectacular effects can’t help it find its way.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
At times, it can feel like the script is hitting story beats like crossing items off a checklist – we arrive at the moment and then quickly discard it for the next one.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
How is the returning cast this season?
The actors remain absolutely brilliant, delivering nuanced performances that anchor the fantastical elements in raw human emotion.
— Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
Its leads are now so comfortable in their roles that there isn’t a false performance in the (enormous) ensemble, with D’Arcy’s mixture of grief, rage, and narcissism and Mitchell’s ruthless fanaticism helping energize this go-round.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Emma D’Arcy specifically, has been given more to do this season as Rhaenyra goes to war, and they tackle the material with gusto.
— Tyler Doster, AwardsWatch
The incomparable Emma D’Arcy continues to hold the series together with a beautiful and terrifying performance that demands attention.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
D’Arcy is at their best in this season, balancing the madness of a Targaryen and the hardened ambition of a woman claiming what has always rightly been hers.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
D’Arcy has never been better. Smith remains wonderfully hammy.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Emma D’Arcy should be writing their Emmy speech for their work this season.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
Are there any notable newcomers?
The new season offers a bunch of new faces, because what the show needed was new characters, with James Norton the best of the lot as Ormund Hightower.
— Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
James Norton is a bona fide delight as Ormund Hightower. He adds so much complexity to a character with little substance in the source material.
— Melody McCune, MovieWeb
Without a doubt, James Norton’s Ormund Hightower. There’s a magnetism to his every moment on screen that makes it hard to look away, whether you are rooting for him or not.
— Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, Fangirlish
The Greens were in desperate need for a megalomaniac, acidic character like Ormund.
— Katie Doll, CBR
Does this season have any problems?
House of the Dragon can’t escape bad habits. The pacing is, yet again, an intimidating mystery.
— Katie Doll, CBR
In its attempt to capture the grand scale of fictional history, House of the Dragon often ends up feeling small when it introduces easily replaceable characters for minute political intrigue.
— Joonatan Itkonen, Region Free
The lack of screentime for characters like Aegon II and Aemond is disappointing, especially after their build-up in Season 2.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
Is it starting to feel like the show is running its course?
House of the Dragon will [reportedly] end with Season 4, and it’s not quite a criticism to say that the first half of Season 3 left me ready for that conclusion.
— Alison Herman, Variety
With the third season underway and only one remaining, whatever flaws fans perceived within House of the Dragon might as well be features in its design.
— Lyvie Scott, Inverse
House of the Dragon: Season 3 premieres on HBO on June 21, 2026.
