Attention: spoilers ahead.
Last night’s series finale of Game of Thrones surely had its fans divided. In the aftermath of Daenerys Targaryen’s fiery capture of King’s Landing, loyalties change as the ones who stood by the Mother of Dragons to be a just and rightful queen of the people, began to fear for the worst of her wrath.
Eventually, Jon Snow killed Daenerys before she could sit down on the Iron Throne – an action that led to his imprisonment. He was soon released by Bran, who was announced as King of the Six Kingdoms (Sansa declared the North independent). Jon was banished to the Night’s Watch as a compromise that was made between Bran and the Unsullied – the later of who was loyal to Daenerys even after her death.
The credits rolled and we still didn’t have all the answers to our questions. No matter the conclusion, the series finale, “The Iron Throne,” logged in 19.3 million viewers across HBO’s platforms (linear, HBO GO and HBO NOW) – a record-breaking rating for the show. In a previous feat, last week’s episode, “The Bells,” was watched by 18.4 million viewers.
The Game of Thrones’s series finale broke the record for the most-watched single telecast on HBO with 13.6 million viewers for its 9 p.m. slot; the previous high, 13.4 million, was held by The Sopranos on its season four premiere.
Game of Thrones‘s season eight premiere had rolled in 17.4 million viewers. With over 43 million viewers in gross audience tuning in for each episode this season, it’s important to note that there has been an increase of 10 million viewers compared to season seven.
On the same night, Bill Hader’s Barry received 2.7 million viewers across HBO’s platforms for its season 2 finale, making it its largest audience ever for the show.
Despite what fans say about the final season of Game of Thrones, the show, overall, had reached high expectations, will always be praised for its character developments, and gave us some of the best years in television.