Thus far, every episode of House of the Dragon has been watched more than the one before. Viewers weren’t put off by the 10-year time jump.
House of the Dragon is settling into a pattern that’s sure to please executives at Warner Bros. Discovery. The first episode became the most-watched series premiere in the history of HBO, and things have only improved since then. Episode 2 was watched more than Episode 1, Episode 4 was watched more than Episode 3, and now, according to Variety, ratings for the latest episode — Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen” — rose 3% over the week before.
That said, we don’t know exact numbers, although Variety has been able to pinpoint that each episode is being watched by around 29 million people on average, a number that should have executives at Warner Bros. Discovery doing backflips down the halls. Those numbers include both people tuning in to watch the show linearly through HBO and those streaming it on HBO Max.
This latest episode represented a turning point for the show; the story jumped forward 10 years, and several of the actors playing the main characters were replaced by older versions; most notably, Milly Alcock (Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Emily Carey (Alicent Hightower) were swapped out for Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who will be here for the rest of the series. Swapping lead actors in the middle of the first season was a risk, but apparently the show has established enough trust with viewers that they went with it.
The skeptic in me says that ratings surely can’t rise for the entire season, but as we get closer to the end things are only going to get more exciting, so maybe I should just strap in and enjoy the ride. At this rate, the season finale will be watched at rates approaching the most popular Game of Thrones episodes. And when the show returns for season 2…well, we could have another TV phenomenon on our hands.
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