Nearly two days after the series debut of HBO’s House of the Dragon, it has been officially announced that the Game of Thrones prequel gave HBO its largest series launch of all time, with 9.986 million viewers tuning in across linear and HBO Max platforms last U.S. Sunday night.
RELATED: House of the Dragon Promo: What to Expect in the Weeks Ahead
House of the Dragon‘s success is also reflected in its popularity on social media. On premiere day, the series was the longest trending topic on Twitter, ranking #1 for 14 hours straight and trending #1 on Google Trends.
“It was wonderful to see millions of Game of Thrones fans return with us to Westeros last night,” Chief Content Officer of HBO & HBO Max Casey Bloys said in a statement. “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. We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan, and Miguel have in store for them this season.”
Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon chronicles the rise and the downfall of the Targaryens, who are the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. It takes place 300 years before the events of the award-winning series adaptation of Game of Thrones, which aired its final episode nearly two years ago.
The 10-episode series will be led by Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. It will also feature Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Graham McTavish, Ryan Corr, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Matthew Needham, Bill Patterson, Gavin Spokes, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Savannah Steyn, and Theo Nate.
RELATED: George R. R. Martin: The Winds of Winter Ending Will Differ ‘A Lot’ From Game of Thrones
House of the Dragon hails from George R.R. Martin, Ryan Condal, and Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik, with Condal and Sapochnik also attached to serve as showrunners. Executive producers are Martin, Sapochnik, Condal, Vince Gerardis, and Sara Lee Hess.
