HBO announced Friday that the premiere episode of Game Of Thrones prequel House Of The Dragon had 20 million viewers and that the series had been renewed for a second season after only one episode.
The current estimate, based on in-house and Nielsen data, includes HBO, on-demand, and HBO Max viewers.
HBO announced one day after its Sunday premiere that it had received 10 million viewers, making it the cable network’s largest series premiere in history.
The House of the Dragon premiere outperformed the 2019 Game of Thrones finale, which drew 19.3 million viewers, a series high.
House Of The Dragon is set 200 years before Game Of Thrones and focuses on the Targaryen family. According to Deadline, the series received HBO’s largest marketing budget ever, totalling $100 million.
After the first episode featured a particularly graphic scene involving a c-section and a fatal birth, some fans and advocacy groups have complained that House Of The Dragon should use trigger warnings. The HBO series Game of Thrones was known for its graphic depictions of murder and sexual assault.
Game of Thrones was one of HBO’s most popular series, airing from 2011 to 2019. House Of The Dragon is a prequel to it, and it is also based on George R.R. Martin’s novels.
Matt Smith (The Crown), Emily D’Arcy, and Olivia Kate Cooke star in the series (Bates Motel). According to Deadline, HBO committed its largest marketing budget ever, $100 million, to the show’s rollout.
