HBO’s House of the Dragon reaped great rewards with its bloodiest episode yet. According to The Hollywood Reporter, episode four tallied 8.1 million viewers, the biggest night audience of the season, across all platforms. It’s also a series-high for the Game of Thrones spinoff.
Compared to the season two premiere, “The Red Dragon and the Gold” grossed a million more viewers, with the show averaging around 1.26 million on-air views for the previous three episodes, according to THR. Ranking it against season one’s performance, the average on-air tally is down 39 percent for the first three episodes, and overall night-one viewership has slipped from 9 million viewers. This is mostly due to fewer viewers watching via HBO’s cable channel.
Where linear may fall short, streaming stretches to make the difference. According to THR, the series streaming first-night average is 7.5 million viewers, making up 18 percent of viewership. Season one was around 20 percent. Another plus: the season premiere has garnered 25 million viewers, which is only 4 million from season one’s average when measuring for views 90s days after the first episode. And Max reports the series boasted its best week performance ahead of episode four, a sign many streamed the season to catch up.
Episode four portrayed the first real conflict between the warring families. After the failed assassination attempts by both houses in episodes one and two, Team Green is prepared to go on the offensive as Ser Criston Cole and Ser Gwanye Hightower steer their fatal campaign to Rook’s Rest. The smaller, defenseless castle is but a short distance from Dragonstone, placing Queen Rhaenyra and her council in a precarious situation. With no suitable army, they are baited into sending a dragon, Princess Rhaenys’ Meleys, to appear capable. But there is more than meets the eye as Cole and Aemond Targaryen hide a secret weapon with grave results.
Episode five of House of the Dragon airs at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT Sunday on HBO and Max.