HBO CEO explains House of the Dragon’s massive budget as Max’s subscription soars up ahead of Season 2

The hype meter is flying high as the second season of House of the Dragon is right around the corner. While it did take a long time to get the upcoming chapter moving, HBO left no stone unturned to make it look promising. The budget climbed up manifold, as more dragons and battle scenes became a common phenomenon in Westeros. And HBO chief Casey Bloys confirmed it.

HBO exec Casey Bloys explains House of the Dragon Season 2’s humongous costs

At the recent House of the Dragon Season 2 screening in NYC on 4th June, several WB/Discovery and HBO bigshots were present. HBO’s Chairman and CEO, Casey Bloys, replied to one of the most common queries (via IndieWire) about the show, which was its budget:

“I’m guessing that they’ve had a couple of conversations saying, ‘Where’s all that HBO money go? And my hope is that you see it on screen tonight. The dragons are very cool, they’re very expensive, but I did ask the production team to give me an idea of what it takes to put on a season of ‘House of the Dragon’ or a show of this size.”

House of the Dragon Season 2 premiere panel           Credit: @kayleens_coffee | Twitter

 House of the Dragon Season 2 employed 9000 extras!

The scale of production increases as battle scenes are filmed in a show or film. As Season 2 will include some of the biggest battle scenes fans of Westeros will ever see, Bloys added:

“These are real numbers, I’m not making this up. 270 shooting days, 2500 crew members, 9000 extras, eight visual effects houses in seven countries, 2600 arrows, 2000 pairs of boots, 114 wigs, and 33 gallons of blood — to give you an idea what it takes.”

The prices of HBO Max subscriptions have also soared up, after the House of the Dragon premiere event was held.

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