HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, will live to fight for a second season.
The decision to renew the show comes before the second episode aired, but it’s a bit of a no-brainer: The series, starring Paddy Considine, Matt Smith and Olivia Cooke, drew nearly 10 million viewers for its debut last Sunday night, making it the largest audience for any new original series in the history of HBO.
What’s more, the show was strong on streaming, too: Via HBO Max, Dragon torched all new streaming titles for the week of August 18 through August 24, according to data from the streaming service aggregator app Reelgood.
The show also lit up social media: On premiere day, House of the Dragon was the longest trending topic on Twitter, ranking #1 for 14 hours straight, and trended #1 on Google Trends, according to HBO.
HBO Vice President of Programming Francesca Orsi noted, “Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV,” adding, “We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”