It's not officially confirmed but iirc the showrunner has said on twitter that they've planned for up to 4 seasons. It probably is going to get the axe after this season but at least most things should be fairly wrapped up by the end.

I would argue that it was more the result of bad writing than nuance on Alicent and Rhaenyra

Enjoyable but not great. Even though the time jumps were jarring I feel like the first half of the season was actually stronger than the back half almost to where I wish we'd gotten the whole first season in the past and then just starting the 2nd at where ep 6 started.

Unfortunately it felt like that first half ended up being for nothing because the 2nd half couldn't decide on whether it wanted Rhaenyra and Alicent to be aggressors or victims. Rhaenyra's birth and walking scene were the perfect start to show off who they'd become, but then the show kept trying to make Alicent a victim and at the mercy of men and Rhaenyra demure and at the mercy of men. It's just weird considering how in GoT two of its best (pre season 7/8) were women defined by being ambitious and willing to go to extremes to get power and in HOTD the show keeps finding ways to make the leads not be ambitious.

Lastly I wish we spent more time with the kids. Presumably they'll be major players but that last episode didn't really have any impact both because "it's an accident!" and it feels like we've seen these characters for 5 minutes so why do I care?