Syfy Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
SYFY WIRE House of the Dragon

Fire! 'House of the Dragon' had the biggest series premiere in HBO's history

Almost 10 million viewers watched the show's first episode this Sunday. 

By Vanessa Armstrong
House of the Dragon PRESS

It looks like a lot of people wanted to head back to Westeros. HBO announced today that the premiere of House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel, had their largest audience ever for a series’ inaugural episode.

“It was wonderful to see millions of Game of Thrones fans return with us to Westeros last night,” Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer, HBO & HBO Max said in a statement. “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. We look forward to sharing with audiences what else [creator George R.R. Martin and co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik] have in store for them this season.” 

So how many viewers tuned in to watch the show? According to HBO, the House of the Dragon premiere on Sunday drew 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms. HBO went on to hint that millions more will likely watch the episode, as Sunday night viewership for their shows usually only makes up 20% to 40% of total viewers. 

To put things in perspective, the Game of Thrones premiere only garnered 2.2 million viewers, although it had 44 million viewers once it got to its eighth and final season.

If you want to become one of those millions of viewers for House of the Dragon, don’t fret: New episodes of the show will debut each week at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max, leading up to the finale on Oct. 23.

Looking for more fantasy adventures? Stream the entire eight-film Harry Potter saga on Peacock.