House of the Dragon premiered on August 21, 2022. Almost immediately, it was a huge hit, with its premiere becoming HBO’s highest viewed debut ever. Nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to see the first episode of the series, and every episode since then has drawn in more and more viewers.
RELATED: New House of the Dragon Clip Welcomes Emma D’Arcy’s Heir
According to a report published by Variety, that figure has now ballooned to an average of 29 million viewers per episode. With the season only recently having aired House of the Dragon episode 5, there’s still room for the viewership to grow even more. Its predecessor show, Game of Thrones, was well-known for drawing in more viewers with each passing season. By its eighth and final season, Game of Thrones was drawing in an average of 44 million viewers per episode across all platforms.
HBO is cognizant of the show’s performance. Right after episode 1 aired, House of the Dragon was renewed for season 2. Being the first spin-off of Game of Thrones, the pressure was surely on for the show to prove itself. The various other spin-offs HBO has planned for the Game of Thrones universe are chiefly prequels, and given the success of House of the Dragon, the prospect of other similar successes is likely tantalizing for the top brass at HBO.
The report by Variety also underscores the near-completion of the cable-cutting movement. According to the report, 2.474 million viewers tuned in to episode 4 on cable, while 2.576 million tuned in to this episode. That means that the majority of viewership is not watching on cable. During its premiere, HBO Max customers complained about crashes in the app. Given the large and significant gap between cable viewers versus online viewers, it is not difficult to see what the future of television is currently trending towards.
House of the Dragon’s success also bodes well for the spin-offs in development. One spin-off, the Bloodmoon pilot, which was to be about the origins of the White Walkers, was already scrapped during its production. Now that House of the Dragon has proven itself, however, it’s likely that HBO will be more confident in moving forward with other projects set within the same universe. This includes the currently-untitled Jon Snow sequel series, of which little is known. Other works that are reported to be in development include a prequel to House of the Dragon about Corlys Velaryon’s travels in his youth, a prequel about Princess Nymeria leading the Rhoynish to Dorne, a prequel adapting the Tales of Dunk and Egg series, and several animated projects.
House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 PM EST on HBO.
MORE: House of the Dragon: Ser Harwin Strong is Stealing the Show
Source: Variety
