Season 2 of Dragon House will premiere on HBO/Max in June, said JB Perrette, head of global streaming and gaming for Discovery of Warner Bros..
Speaking at a press conference today, he said it was one of a handful of HBO flagship series expected to help the media giant's turnaround after a period of downturn for film. and television due in part to the Hollywood strikes last year.
He did not give a specific premiere date. HBO and Max chief content officer Casey Bloys last said in November that the season would arrive in early summer. Warner Bros. CEO Discover's David Zaslav confirmed during the Feb. 23 earnings call that Season 2 would premiere in the second quarter.
Dragon House takes place 172 years before the events of Game Of Thrones and tells the history of House Targaryen. It stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans. Ryan Condal and George RR Martin serve as executive producers along with Sara Hess, Vince Gerardis, Season 2 director Alan Taylor and Season 1 director/co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik.
“When we look at the next 12-18-24 months, we all have our four biggest HBO pillars – Dragon House Season Two Coming in June,” as well as new installments of The Last of Us, Euphoria And White LotusPerrette said at the Morgan Stanley conference.
He noted that the strategy implemented by Bloys – “my sort of partner on the content side” – seeks to “increase Warner Brothers' intellectual property” for originals. “So less than Winning time(s) or the Julia(s), and more » The Penguinwhich is coming to Max this fall from the DC universe, a Dune series “based on the obviously incredible success of the film” and Conspiracy.
“So we have a lot more of what we call four quadrants, which appeal to everyone. An important and well-known intellectual property.
He called content one of several “vectors” that WBD is counting on to boost Max as the streamer moves toward consistent profitability. This is roughly the second anniversary of the Discovery-Warner Media merger, which left the combined company heavily in debt. Max – formerly HBO Max – launched last May. With the stock price barely above $8, investors are eagerly awaiting good news from the David Zaslav-led company.
Perrette said it's a slow build, but she predicts growth in streaming through an international push (in Latin America and Europe), a crackdown on password sharing, a advertising lighting offering and range of content.
“In the eight months since (the Max launch), for a variety of reasons, some of which we knew about and some related to the strike, we've launched probably the lightest content slate we've ever had” , did he declare. WBD signed a production deal with A24 in December which started this quarter. “So in the second half of last year, our paid movies were significantly lower volume, our Warner Bros. slate, other than barbiewhich is obviously a huge hit, was lighter and not as loud as we hoped.
For “our original slate, in part because of the strike, we pushed back some titles that were supposed to arrive in the fourth quarter because we couldn't find the talent to help promote them. So we had a much lighter roster in the second half than we expected.
He was optimistic about the sNewly announced sports streaming joint venture by Disney, WBD and Fox. “It’s great to have our Sports on Max, and it does a great service to a fan base that spends more time with the sport. But if you're a true sports fan, you want more. So, “aggregation is extremely powerful and can provide many more opportunities for us and our partners. And that’s where we started our conversation about sports and adventure.
Sports on Max has helped increase awareness and is growing month by month, he said, as it prepares to launch March Madness later this month and the NBA playoffs later in spring. “And so our alignment gets stronger over the next few months. And then. Over time, as we finalize the business and the business structure, we will determine what exactly we do with our sports offering on Max versus the sports offering” on the JV.