The viewership for House Of The Dragon is down following the premiere episode of season three.
HBO‘s prequel series to Game Of Thrones returned to screens in the US last Sunday (June 21), following the conclusion of season two in 2024.
The opening episode then arrived in the UK the following day (Monday June 22) on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. This new run will consist of eight episodes, airing weekly through to the finale in early August.
As reported by Deadline, the season three premiere racked up 21.5million viewers worldwide in the first three days across HBO and HBO Max.
This figure – shared by Warner Bros. Discovery. yesterday (Thursday June 25) – is down approximately eight per cent from season two’s 23.4million viewers across three days.
However, it remains a strong enough audience retention for the season debut.
It is said that a decline was somewhat expected, given that House Of The Dragon had seen a fall in viewers between season one (2022) and season two.
According to Warner Bros. Discovery, viewership for season two had tripled in the run-up to the season three premiere. This suggests that some fans were rewatching to refresh themselves, while there were likely some new viewers jumping on board.
The fantasy series, created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, debuted to 7.8million viewers on season two’s first day of availability, down from 10million for season one.
Warning: the rest of this article contains spoilers for House Of The Dragon season three….
The season three premiere depicts the Battle Of The Gullet, which is described as the bloodiest sea battle in Westeros’ history. As you might expect from the Game Of Thrones franchise, that means some major characters have inevitably been wiped off the board.
There were four key deaths (or five, counting a dragon) in the first episode of the third season. Meanwhile, fans were left horrified after the premiere featured a mother-son kiss on screen.
HBO has already renewed House Of The Dragon for a fourth and final season, with the next run currently expected to arrive in 2028.