There must be some hesitant and cautiously optimistic sighs at Warner Bros. Discovery HQ tonight because the premiere of HBO’s House Of The Dragon drew apparently the largest number of viewers for any premiere in the entire history of HBO. A press release from the premium cable network says 10 million people watched Matt Smith have mournful sex with this lady (HBO didn’t put it that way), and HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys adds that “it was great to you see millions Game Of Thrones fans joined us back in Westeros last night.’ Granted, this is a network that reports its own ratings, which are always suspect, so it’s worth noting that House Of The Dragon had a lot going for it that other big HBO shows didn’t: It’s related to Game Of Thrones , which — beyond the finale — is still one of the biggest and most iconic TV shows ever, and has the advantage of debuting on HBO and HBO Max (which the original Game Of Thrones couldn’t to do, because HBO Max didn’t exist yet ). Also: Matt Smith had mourning sex with a lady, something the Game Of Thrones pilot didn’t! The Hollywood Reporter also notes that this is the biggest audience HBO has had since the end of Game Of Thrones, with the series finale drawing more than 19 million viewers in May 2019. The highest since then—so far—was season two finale of Euphoria, which took in 6.6 million. That success comes as HBO Max has had a pretty dull summer, with new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery bleeding it to death in an obvious attempt to save money. (Unless Warner Bros. Discovery is just a bloodthirsty creep like Matt Smith’s character in House Of The Dragon, who killed a few people and showed very little respect for the rules of jousting other than having mournful sex.) Now House Of The Dragon just needs to keep this up for a few years, become a bigger hit than Game Of Thrones, and then HBO Max will be saved.
