‘House of the Dragon’ Breaks TV Record

HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series is continuing to smash records. Just three episodes into its first season, House of the Dragon is breaking TV records in the U.S. and the U.K., where it just became Comcast’s pay-TV giant Sky’s biggest U.S. drama launch and biggest Sky Atlantic series premiere ever.

The record breaking episode was the Season 1 premiere episode, “The Heirs of the Dragon,” which premiered on Aug. 22 on Sky Atlantic. That episode was viewed by more than 4 million people, overtaking the launch of Game of Thrones and marking Sky’s biggest U.S. drama launch and biggest Sky Atlantic series premiere in its 11-year history, per Deadline. Initial numbers viewed by The Hollywood Reporter revealed that in 1.39 million viewers tuned into the episode, with more than 394,000 people watching watched the prime time linear broadcast at 9 p.m., with nearly 1 million either watching the 2 a.m. broadcast or having downloaded and watched later in the day. However, it was expected that those numbers would grow once final consolidated figures were taken into account. The Sky TV record comes after House of the Dragon became the most-watched HBO/HBO Max TV or film premiere in Europe in the network’s history on Aug. 24 and also became the biggest series premiere in HBO’s history in the U.S. after the debut episode drew in nearly 10 million viewers.

“Momentum around House of the Dragon just continues to build, as more and more people spread the word about its ever-current narrative of political power play married with visuals of epic scale and imagination,” Sky MD of Content Zai Bennett said. “And thanks to Sky making the first episode freely available to watch via YouTube, more people than ever before will be able to sample the world-class world of Westeros.”

With all of the records House of the Dragon is breaking, it comes as little surprise that just a single episode into its debut season, the series received a Season 2 renewal on Aug. 26. Confirming the renewal at the time, Francesca Orsi, EVP, HBO Programming, said, “we are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” noting that the cast and crew delivered “a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV.”

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood and is set approximately 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.