As known, House Of The Dragon debuted to nearly 10 million US viewers this weekend, HBO seems to have claimed first blood in its much-hyped TV fantasy epic showdown with Amazon’s upcoming Lord Of The Rings prequel. The series is set in the same Medieval-inspired Westeros world as the smash hit Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon. It is launched this Sunday and is a crucially important series for the premium cable network and its streaming platform HBO Max.
HBO is piling up on its prequel matching the wild popularity of the original Thrones, which over eight seasons became appointment viewing, spawned countless imitations, and delivered 59 Emmys – a record for a drama at television’s equivalent of the Oscars.
Meanwhile, a press release on Monday hailed 9.986 million viewers as “the largest audience for any new original series in the history of HBO” — although some analysts noted that “new original” might be pushing a definition for a spin-off, and that its parent title drew a whopping 17.4 million to the debut of its final season.
Still, the figure represents a success for the newly incorporated Warner Bros Discovery, which is under intense scrutiny as it tries to navigate its place in a rapidly changing entertainment landscape dominated by the so-called “streaming wars.”
It is said to be a passion project for Amazon’s uber-wealthy founder Jeff Bezos. The Rings of Power has been authorized for five seasons and has been dubbed the most expensive show ever made.
Its overall budget of around $1 billion dwarfs the $150 million spent so far on House of the Dragon, though HBO has several other glossy Westeros-set prequels, sequels, and spin-offs in the works.