House of the Dragon Season 2’s Debut Has Set One Towering Record But Still Has a Long Way to Beat Season 1
House of the Dragon season 2 recently premiered on Sunday, June 16, 2024. Fans were excited to dive back into Westeros! And they tuned in for its premiere, making it the biggest day ever for HBO Max’s sister streaming service, Max! That’s sure a huge win for the prequel series.
However, the number of viewers didn’t reach the record-breaking heights of season 1’s debut on HBO Max. So, while it’s a hit on Max, it didn’t quite match the excitement of the pilot episode.
House of the Dragon S2 Soars on Max, But Missed S1 Record
House of the Dragon hit screens this weekend, and a lot of people tuned in! As reported by Variety, the season 2 premiere of the hit Game of Thrones prequel series brought in a massive 7.8 million viewers. That’s a big win for Warner Bros. Discovery. It shows that House of the Dragon still remains a major player in the world of streaming.
While the numbers are impressive, there’s a bit of a catch. House of the Dragon season 1, premiered on August 21, 2022, raked in a whopping 10 million viewers. The season 2 premiere, though still strong, fell a little short – about 22% less than season 1. No doubt, the audience for S2 is still big, but it didn’t quite match the record-breaking debut of season 1. Also, each episode in the first season attracted around 29 million viewers, so Season 2 still has a lot of ground to cover.
According to Indie Wire, the recent name switch from HBO Max to Max might be behind a drop in sign-ups. HBO Max was known for its high-quality shows, while Max now offers a wider mix of programs, including reality TV and documentaries. Moreover, Warner Bros. Discovery recently raised Max’s price by a dollar before the Father’s Day 2024 debut of Season 2. So, the holiday might have reduced Sunday streaming.
HBO Launches New Game of Thrones Prequel Series
While the first prequel series, House of the Dragon, is in the middle of its second season, HBO is wasting no time bringing another chapter of Westeros to life. Filming has officially started for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a brand new prequel series set in the world of Game of Thrones.
It isn’t just another story set before the main show. This one takes us way back, a whole hundred years before Daenerys and Jon Snow! Based on George R.R. Martin‘s novella The Hedge Knight, it follows Ser Duncan the Tall, a brave young knight, and his unlikely companion, his squire Egg.
So, while HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones may be over, the future of the franchise on television looks promising. House of the Dragon S2 is already a hit with its second season airing now, and another series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is now on the way!
While viewership for Season 2 wasn’t as high as the record-breaking first season, it still shows that the streaming service, Max, is growing and fans continue to love the Game of Thrones world.
Watch House of the Dragon on Max!
