“Beyond the Wall” pulls in second-highest ratings for a Game of Thrones episode ever

The ratings are in for “Beyond the Wall,” the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season 7. Obviously, they’re terrible.

Just kidding. They’re insane. According to Entertainment Weekly, “Beyond the Wall” pulled in 10.2 million live viewers. That puts it even with “The Spoils of War,” the fourth episode of the season. The only episode to have gotten better ratings was last week’s “Eastwatch.” So…a lot of people watch this show.

Like “The Spoils of War,” “Beyond the Wall” leaked ahead of time. (“Beyond the Wall” leaked much earlier in the week than “Spoils,” incidentally.) Yet they still pulled in near-record busting numbers. HBO has gotten a lot of press for its rash of security breaches over the past several months, but that doesn’t seem to be having an effect on the show’s ratings.

Both “Spoils” and “Beyond” were leaked internally by people who either worked for HBO or for companies affiliated with HBO. Both leaks were unrelated to a separate hack of the company’s data. The hackers involved in that breach have threatened to leak the season finale, but if they actually had access to episodes, don’t you think they would have released at least one by now?

We’ll see how the show performs during this Sunday’s season finale. Might it pull in the best-ever ratings for the show?

Next: Sophie Turner and the Game of Thrones showrunners discuss Sansa and Arya’s frayed relationship

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