The stakes are growing in House of the Dragon and so are its ratings.
In a report from Variety, the Game of Thrones prequel series is averaging 29 million viewers per episode. This data is based on Nielsen’s combined measurements across four cable airings on Sunday, and the numbers across HBO’s streaming platforms. Based on Nielsen, 2,576 million people watched the fifth episode on HBO, which is a four percent increase from episode four’s 2.474 million cable viewers.
House of the Dragon, episode five, “We Light the Way,” was probably the most anticipated episode so far. It was a marriage between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) and Laenor Targaryen (Theo Nate), and as we all know, weddings in GOT don’t usually end very well. The same could be said in this episode, during which one of the most shocking events took place (we’ll avoid spoilers here, though).
The popular series is HBO’s biggest premiere to date, with 10 million people watching across all platforms. Episode two hit 10.2 million, but streaming data was unavailable for episode three. It aired on Labor Day weekend and it dropped by one million in cable viewership, but episode four increased by five percent across HBO’s platforms. These figures show an impressive consistency for the dragon-based drama.
Episode six’s time jump will feature new cast members as Rhaenyra, played by Alcock, and Alicent Hightower, played by Emily Carey, will be replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Alicent Hightower, respectively. They will be playing the older versions of the characters, and fans are eagerly awaiting how they’re going to do.
