Second season of the Game of Thrones spin-off prequel The house of the dragon It is a genuine success.
New episodes of the HBO Max series, which premiered on June 16, have not only received rave reviews but have also surpassed previous series’ best ratings in terms of official streaming ratings.
House Of The Dragon, created by George RR Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO, streamed 1.23 billion minutes the week of its second season premiere, a big jump from the first season’s high of 1.02 billion.
That translates to a jump of 210 million minutes between the highs of the first and second seasons, according to Nielsen data obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
In fact, those new figures catapulted House Of The Dragon to the fourth most-watched series that week, behind Bridgerton (2.47 billion minutes), Your Honor (1.95 billion minutes) and The Boys (1.29 billion minutes).
Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon hit streaming viewership high for its second season, which premiered on HBO on June 16; stars Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy appear in a scene from the hit series
The second season premiere streamed for 1.23 billion minutes its premiere week, which is a huge jump from the first season’s high of 1.02 billion.
The series premiere was watched by more than 10 million viewers across linear channels and HBO Max on day one, now a record in HBO history.
The show then followed that up by reaching record-breaking overall viewership figures during its first season finale.
While streaming is the main driving force behind those growing viewership numbers, that doesn’t even really include linear viewing, which is a reflection of the people still watching it on HBO.
A prequel to Game Of Thrones (2011–2019), the fantasy drama is the second television series in Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire franchise.
Based on parts of Martin’s book Fire & Blood (2018), the series begins about 100 years after the Seven Kingdoms were united by the Targaryen conquest, nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.
The show depicts the events leading to the downfall of House Targaryen, a devastating war of succession known as the Dance of the Dragons.
The cast includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Graham McTavish, Tom Glynn-Carney and Ewan Mitchell.
House Of The Dragon was created by George RR Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO; Condal and Martin appear during a promotional event in March 2023
With 1.23 billion minutes of streaming in its premiere week, the series translated into an increase of 210 million minutes of streaming between the peaks of the first and second seasons, according to Nielsen data obtained by The Hollywood Reporter; Olivia Cooke in a scene from the hit series
The show’s 1.23 billion minutes in premiere week were enough to land it in fourth place, behind Bridgerton (2.47 billion minutes), Your Honor (1.95 billion minutes) and The Boys (1.29 billion minutes) in June’s numbers.
Other cast members include Olivia Cooke, Matthew Needham, Jefferson Hall, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Kurt Egyiawan and Kieran Bew, Abubakar Salim, Tom Taylor, Clinton Liberty, Tom Bennett, Ellora Torchia, Freddie Fox, Gayle Rankin and Simon Russell Beale.
House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019, with casting set to begin in July 2020, followed by the start of principal photography in April 2021.
Finally, the series and its 10 episodes premiered on HBO on August 21, 2022.
It took network executives just five days after its debut to decide to greenlight the series’ second season.
While the second season is set to conclude its final episode on August 4, House Of The Dragon has already been renewed for a third season.
Among its many accolades, House Of The Dragon won Best Television Series – Drama and Emma D’Arcy was nominated for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.
The prequel series and its first 10 episodes premiered on HBO on August 21, 2022; Olivia Cooke and Freddie Fox shared this scene together
The second season, which premiered on June 16, will conclude its final episode on August 4.
House Of The Dragon has been renewed for a third season just five days after the second season premiered on HBO; actors Tom Glynn-Carney and Ewan Mitchell appear in the scene
The series also earned nine Emmy nominations, ultimately winning the award for Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costume Design.
The original Games Of Thrones series was a huge success for eight seasons on HBO, consisting of 73 episodes that ran until May 19, 2019.
The series received 59 Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for a drama series, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2015, 2016, as well as 2018 and 2019.
After attracting a devoted fan base across the globe and garnering high praise from viewers and critics alike, Game Of Thrones is widely considered one of the best television series of all time.