In the lead-up to its premiere, there was much anxiety about the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. Could it ever live up to its predecessor? Will audiences glom onto characters as they did with Daenerys, Jon Snow, et al.? Will viewers even tune in? It’s too early to answer the first two questions, but there’s a definite answer for the third: Yes, and how. What’s more, it looks like the record-breaking, HBO Max-crashing premiere was no fluke.
As per Deadline, episode two of Dragon was even (slightly) stronger, wrangling in 10.2 million viewers across the streamer and linear platforms. That’s a 2% increase from the show’s maiden voyage. What’s more, that premiere’s numbers have only gotten higher in the subsequent week. It’s now eying 25 million viewers total, handily making it the most-watched original series in HBO history.
Oh, and another thing: Last week, Game of Thrones, the show that started it all, had become the second most watched show on HBO Max.
Even only two episodes into its 10-episode first season run, viewers are already obsessing over the political machinations of Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors, and over a character called the “Crabfeeder,” who literally leaves his defeated foes to be eaten up by crabs. In any case, it seems people do not mind returning to Westeros.
(Via Deadline)