'House Of The Dragon' Premiere Draws Staggering Amount Of Viewers

Westeros is officially back on our screens and boy, did it feel good to watch a dragon swooping over King’s Landing again albeit this time with far less disastrous consequences. House Of The Dragon is the first Game Of Thrones spin-off to hit our screens and the season premiere certainly didn’t disappoint. Set 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, House Of The Dragon charts the downfall of the Targaryen family and already, it’s a huge hit for HBO.

If you’re yet to dive in, what are you waiting for? Check out the House Of The Dragon trailer below.

According to Variety, a whopping 10 million viewers tuned into the premiere of House Of The Dragon across both HBO and HBO Max making the episode HBO’s most-watched premiere ever. To compare, Game of Thrones’ premiere was watched by 4.2 million viewers. During its eighth season however, 17.9 million people tuned in so House Of The Dragon has got some growing to do before it reaches HBO’s all-time record, but it’s off to a decent start.

It’s even more impressive when you consider that these viewing figures don’t account for many international viewers. I really don’t think HBO could’ve wished for a better reception to the series. Both the critical and audience reception have been stellar, with the series landing 82% and 88% scores on Rotten Tomatoes respectively.

The series has even got the approval of author George R.R. Martin who told The Hollywood Reporter, “There’s no Arya - a character everybody's going to love. They're all flawed. They're all human. They do good things. They do bad things. They're driven by lust for power, jealousy, old wounds—just like human beings. Just like I wrote them." You say that George, but I may already be a Rhaenyra stan after a single episode.