House of the Dragon is the first show in the many planned GOT prequels and spin-offs. The show will focus on House Targaryen’s reign and the games that will be played for the Iron Throne. The prequel is set 172 years before our Mother of Dragons- Daenerys Targaryen. The show’s premise is simple, King Viserys I must choose between his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen and his brother Daemon Targaryen as his heir to the Iron Throne. While you might feel this would end up in generic chain of events, that is not the case. The show has done exceptionally well in taking this simple premise and making it complicated and hence interesting. The prequel is created by George R.R. Martin and Miguel Sapochnik. Sapochnik also serves as Co-Showrunner alongside Ryan Condal.
Earlier this year, they’d mentioned that they intend to run the show for at least 5 seasons. Naturally for that to happen the prequel must do exceptionally well and bring back the great Game of Thrones glory to HBO. Even the HBO has come out with some amazing content after Game of Thrones’ horrific end in 2019, no show has been able to get numbers as big as Game of Thrones. Well, House of the Dragon may have just changed that narrative.
HOTD Episode 2 beats Episode 1’s Viewership Record!
The hype around House of the Dragon was immense, the great marketing tactics employed HBO seemed to have worked. House of the Dragon episode 1 premiered on HBO and HBO Max and it had bombastic opening numbers. The pilot garnered 9.986 Million viewers on the day of premiere itself. This huge opening made House of the Dragon HBO’s biggest debut. While many suspected these numbers were due Game of Thrones’ elephantine fan base and to some degree that is true but there’s more to it.
The episode may have gotten so many views as people wanted to check out the series and decide were they going invest their time and interest in the GOT Universe. However, the viewership numbers of the second episode speaks for itself. The numbers stipulate the fact that the prequel’s success had to do with the quality it offered. I had mentioned that retaining the huge audience it had gotten will be a challenge for House of the Dragon but it seems like its a piece of cake for it.
The prequel’s second episode clocked 10.2 million domestic viewers on HBO Max and linear television combined according to Nielsen and other first party data. These numbers proves that HBO made the right call by renewing House of the Dragon for a second season right after its pilot’s success. These numbers are a statement that people want more Game of Thrones, even the horrific season 8 wasn’t able to extinguish their love for this world George R.R. Martin has created.
Viewership of @HouseOfDragon Episode 2 was up 2% Sunday night, tallying 10.2 million viewers domestically across @HBOMax and linear telecasts, based on a combination of Nielsen and first party data. pic.twitter.com/vE1bdFVoy2
— Max PR (@MaxPR) August 29, 2022
House of the Dragon Episode 2: Why are these Numbers so Shocking?
The pilot was watched was by over 20 million people before the second episode came out. These figures suggests that House of the Dragon’s active watching audiences are at least 25 Million in the United States alone. For a new show that has been out for only a week, nothing can be better than this. Everyone including me expected a drop in the viewership numbers for episode 2 as that is the common notion with prequels. Better Call Saul had a huge debut in 2015 with 7 million viewers.
These numbers were due to Breaking Bad’s craze and the satisfying conclusion the show gave us. However, the second episode was only able to get back 3.4 million viewers. We know the quality of Better Call Saul but it still faced a dip. It is now one of best shows ever. House of the Dragon despite Game of Thrones’ catastrophic end has been able to convince viewers to slide back into Westeros. The prequel continues to defy expectations be it in quality or viewership numbers. Hopefully these numbers will only get higher.
The GOT prequel has an incredible ensemble cast that includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Along with the main cast, the supporting cast of the show includes- Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, Savannah Steyn, and more.
House of the Dragon’s first two episodes are currently streaming on HBO Max or Disney+. New episodes will debut on every Sunday or Monday on HBO and HBO Max or Disney+ Hotstar depending on the region you live in, at 9 pm or 6.30 am.
If you have any questions regarding House of the Dragon, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!
