After record-setting premiere, House of the Dragon ratings rise for Week 2

Last week, HBO debuted House of the Dragon, its Game of Thrones prequel show. During the lead-up, there was some discussion about whether people were still interested in Game of Thrones. The series finale was famously divisive, after all, so maybe they were ready to move on.

Ends up no. The first episode, “The Heirs of the Dragon,” set a record for the most-watched series premiere in the history of HBO. Executives immediately renewed the series for a second season, presumably while pumping their fists up and down and shouting “cha-ching! cha-ching!”

No matter how popular a premiere episode, it’s customary for ratings to drop a bit in the second week after the thrill of novelty has worn off and the show gets to work building a more consistent following. But again, ends up no. TVLine reports that the second episode, “The Rogue Prince,” was watched by 10.2 million people on Sunday night across HBO Max and linear TV, up 2% from the premiere.

It ends up that people do still care about Game of Thrones

The premiere episode, by the way, has now been watched by almost 25 million people. House of the Dragon is the most popular title on HBO Max, and Game of Thrones is the second most popular, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd. No oNe caREs AboUt gaMe Of tHROnEs aNYmoRe, amirite?

But seriously, this is a lot of success very quickly. If the rest of the season keeps people’s interest, House of the Dragon has a good chance of becoming the sort of group watch phenomenon that Game of Thrones was. Even I didn’t think that would happen.

Then again, maybe it’s more accurate to say that House of the Dragon will continue the group watch phenomenon that Game of Thrones was. If the early early success of the prequel has shown anything, I think it’s that people weren’t ready to leave Westeros behind when the original show ended. We’ll see what the rest of the season brings, but it’s great to see the show off to such a strong start.

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