The end of the first season of House of the Dragon in HBO impressively put in on par with it predecessor Game of Thrones. Interestingly, the final baseball game of American League Championship Series between New York Yankees and Houston Astros did not prevent fans from watching the finale. Right now, across all social media platforms, people are talking about the final episode. Possibly, House of the Dragon will remain on the top discussion for the next few days.
Suffice to say, fans are happy with how HBO delivered the spinoff. Somehow, for some fans, it redeemed the Game of Thrones franchise to their eyes. Also, new viewers appreciated the series. Meanwhile, the platform notes that episodes also reflect “catch up” viewing behavior among its subscribers. Of course, this also re-ignited the interest of old viewers.
House Of The Dragon Impressively Ends First Season In HBO
Image: HBO
In an article from Deadline, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max, Casey Bloys states:
We’re so thrilled to see House of the Dragon catch fire with Game of Thrones fans around the world, as well as new viewers who are discovering the world of Westeros for the first time. Congrats to George, Ryan, Miguel and the whole House of the Dragon team on an incredible first season.
Series showrunner Ryan Condal expressed his elated surprise as to how the fans readily welcomed the series. In an interview with the New York Times he said:
I was surprised in a happy way about how quickly everybody embraced it. I really thought it was going to be more of a hill to climb because we were following the Beatles, and how do you do that? You don’t. You just try to do your own thing, and hope it connects with people.
But I was shocked that people came right out the gate and accepted it, generally — this massive fandom, and tens of millions of people watching the show, and writing about it and talking about it.
Upon the first season’s release of the early episodes, the show already got a green light for its second season. Condal shares that his team is ready for what comes next. Absolutely appreciating HBO’s support in the creative decisions he made, Condal assures fans:
I’m really glad and proud of and grateful for the audience, who buckled up and came along for the ride. The reward for everybody is that the story from here forward happens in real time.
House Of The Dragon Impressively Ends First Season In HBO
Image: HBO
Hopefully, this means that the future season will no longer have the controversial time jumps that season 1 had. As for the approach they have on the story they want to tell, Condal says:
At its most basic, this story is about these two young women — who are really girls; they’re 14 when we meet them — who are forced into this political game of thrones, in the most literal sense, by their fathers.
…Decades down the road, when those seeds are allowed to grow and bloom and Alicent has a son who becomes Rhaenyra’s chief rival, what’s going to happen then?
The daughters grew up into adults who’ve been manipulated and poisoned by their fathers, in a world where they’re taught…about picking sides. They go on to perpetuate this division that began in the pilot. It’s all about them, and will continue to be.
Understandably, HBO basks in the knowledge that all episodes of the new series average 29 million viewers in the U.S. alone. It’s three times the number of viewership during the first day of streaming. Eversince, the platform reflects re-watching and catch-up viewing in its streaming data. Comparatively, Season 7 of its predecessor, Game of Thrones had 32.8M viewers. The activity is pretty close.
