Whether you were a fan of the last season of Game of Thrones or not, it seems that everyone was curious about the continuation of this epic storyline. The prequel, House of the Dragon, set 200 years before GoT, drew nearly 10 million viewers when it launched on Sunday on both HBO and HBO Max, both crashing the services and accounting for the highest premiere in HBO’s lengthy and prestigious history.
House of the Dragon was the number one trending topic on Twitter on Sunday. It also generated more than 2 million Google searches.
HBO and HBO Max’s chief content officer, Casey Bloys, announced:
“It was wonderful to see millions of ‘Game of Thrones’ fans return with us to Westeros last night. ‘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.”
This is great news as Game of Thrones alienated so many fans with its final season. Wisely, HBO banked on the enduring love for the show at its height. The network invested $15-$20 million per episode of House of the Dragon. That’s… a lot.
The new series focuses on the history of the House of Targaryen, Daenerys’ tribe that controls the devastating dragons of Westeros. This new program centers on a bid for power within the Targaryen family as the King, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) is set to abdicate.
The clear favorite is his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), but, EWWWW she’s a yucky girl! She can’t rule! Her biggest rival is Viserys’ brother, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) and his ambition leads to a civil war.
The cast also includes Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, and Graham McTavish.
There will be ten episodes of the first season. Based on the performance of the pilot episode, it looks as though House of the Dragon will carry on for many more.
Did you have any problems watching the premiere of House of the Dragon? Once you saw it, what did you think?
