Collider has published a speculative feature exploring how the final, fourth season of HBO's "House of the Dragon" – expected in 2028 – might draw on George R.R. Martin's history book "Fire & Blood" to bring the Dance of the Dragons civil war to a close. The article matters to fans because the show has already diverged from the source material in places, and with only eight episodes left to wrap up a sprawling, dragon-heavy conflict, the choice of ending will shape how satisfying the prequel's conclusion feels.

The piece runs through five possible book-derived endings, starting with Cregan Stark's brief, justice-restoring reign as Hand of the King in King's Landing following Aegon II's poisoning – dubbed "The Hour of the Wolf" – and also touches on Alicent Hightower's grief-stricken final days, in which she loses all her children and later dies of "Winter Fever". The author notes that "Fire & Blood" is a difficult text to adapt directly, being a dense, sparsely-detailed historical account with conflicting versions of events, which gives the show room to take creative liberties while still drawing on the book for a fitting finale.