'House Of The Dragon' Excitement Proves Fans Have Forgiven 'Game of Thrones'
The idea that fans would abandon the future of Westeros following a much-maligned final season of Game of Thrones was an overstatement.
Fans have never been more excited about dragons and incest than they are right now.
On Saturday, HBO released the first trailer for the second season of House of the Dragon.
The Dance of the Dragons, the oft-referenced civil war during the Targaryen rule of the Seven Kingdoms, is upon us:
HBO says the teaser garnered over 63 million organic global views across all platforms in the first 48 hours, the highest of any trailer since the launch of HBO Max, now titled Max, in 2020.
Add that record to the show's already extensive list of accolades.
The first episode of Dragon in 2022 drew 9.986 million viewers on live TV and Max, marking the highest debut of any original series in the history of HBO.
More people watched Dragon during its first season than the NBA Finals on ABC. Think about that...
In terms of total reach -- the number of viewers who stream a show later in the week -- the first season of the series averaged over 30 million viewers per episode.
By comparison, Succession averaged nine million viewers in the same category.
The storyline of Dragon, adapted from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood history novel, is a worthy heir to Thrones.
And perhaps the show won't fall off like Thrones given the source material is completed.
Update: Martin has still not finished the final two books on which Game of Thrones is based. It has been 12 years since the last release and he is now 75 years of age.
The math is not on his side.
The trailer for season two of "House of the Dragon" is putting up outrageous numbers online. See the best reactions. (Credit: HBO)
Nonetheless, the success of House of the Dragon vindicates HBO's decision to choose it over a series based on the White Walkers, for which a pilot was shot but never greenlit.
The show was set to star Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson, and Josh Whitehouse. Its pilot reportedly cost over $30 million to shoot.
Still, the appetite for Dragon and more Westores affirms the mistake HBO is making by not greenlighting the rumored Jon Snow sequel series.
While HBO Casey Bloys did not outright confirm the sequel won't take place, he announced last month -- in response to an OutKick story wondering about the status -- that HBO would move forward with a prequel called Dunk and Egg instead.
There is a window in which HBO can return to the Jon Snow timeline before it's too late. We believe that the window is closing, and Snow will never receive the ending he deserves.
And thus we must enjoy the dragons.