Nearly 10 million viewers gave the prequel’s first episode a chance, even though the vast majority of Game of Thrones fans were left unimpressed by the eighth and final season more than three years ago. The debut of House of the Dragon attracted the most viewers ever for an original series on HBO and its HBO Max streaming service with 9.986 million people.
According to Variety, the first episode of Game of Thrones attracted 4.2 million viewers in 2011, but the juggernaut’s ratings kept rising, reaching 17.9 million viewers for the start of Season 8.
HBO reportedly spent more than $100 million on marketing their possibly brand-new cornerstone series, according to Deadline. According to HBO Originals Marketing EVP Pia Barlow, “The House of the Dragon campaign is really about generating big, broad awareness and interest throughout the summer, but we also want to make sure we’re signaling to existing fans as well as new fans alike that this is a new Game of Thrones story coming to HBO Max.”
In 2019, HBO cancelled the Game of Thrones spinoff, initially titled The Long Night, starring Naomi Watts, and then swiftly approved House of the Dragon straight to series. The decision caused some uncertainty because the Age of Heroes-themed drama appeared to be headed for approval after the network reportedly spent $30 million producing its pilot episode.