Another ‘House of the Dragon’ Shocker: Episode 2 Actually Had More Viewers Than Series Premiere

There is no “Game of Thrones” when it comes to HBO viewership: The prequel series “House of the Dragon” has already conquered the network.

After making history with the highest premiere ratings ever, viewership for Episode 2 of “House of the Dragon” increased by two percent for the next episode, tallying 10.2 million viewers domestically across HBO Max and linear telecasts, based on a combination of Nielsen and first party data.

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The series premiere of “House of the Dragon” is now approaching 25 million viewers in the U.S. after one week of availability on the streamer.

And “House of the Dragon” isn’t the only George R.R. Martin property to be trending on HBO at the moment: original series “Game of Thrones” also reached another weekly high on HBO Max last week, up 30 percent and marking eight consecutive weeks of growth. It was the #2 title on HBO Max last week, behind “House of the Dragon.”

Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series is set 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones” and tells the story of House Targaryen. The ensemble cast includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik serve as the “House of the Dragon” showrunners.

“It was wonderful to see millions of ‘Game of Thrones’ fans return with us to Westeros last night. ‘House of the Dragon’ features an incredibly talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into the production, and we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response,” HBO & HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys said following the “House of the Dragon” series premiere. “We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan, and Miguel have in store for them this season.”

Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming, added, “We are beyond proud of what the entire ‘House of the Dragon’ team has accomplished with Season 1. Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV.”

“House of the Dragon” was renewed for a second season after its massive series premiere. The “reimagining” of Martin’s novels landed a B- review from IndieWire’s Ben Travers.

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