“House of the Dragon” returned Sunday for its third season to an impressive audience.
The Season 3 premiere, which kicked off with the bloody Battle of the Gullet, brought in 21.5 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max, according to live-plus-three-day internal viewing figures from Warner Bros. Discovery.
That’s down 8% from the Season 2 premiere, which scored 23.4 million within the same timeframe, though it’s worth noting that the Season 3 premiere of “House of the Dragon” competed with the FIFA World Cup.
Anticipation for Season 3 lead to a boost in viewership with weekly viewership for Season 2 tripling leading into the Sunday debut. Season 1 episodes are now averaging 92.2 million viewers since its debut.
The Season 2 premiere, titled “A Son for A Son,” drew 7.8 million viewers across platforms on Sunday night alone, which, at the time, marked the streamer’s largest single-day audience to date. The Season 1 premiere scored 9.986 million viewers in August 2022.
The Season 2 finale, however, closed out with a series high viewership of 8.9 million viewers on its Sunday debut night.
The “Game of Thrones” spinoff series returned with the bloody Battle of the Gullet to kick off Season 3, which saw the tragic death of one crucial character.
“House of the Dragon” Season 3, which consists of eight episodes, drops new episodes Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The Season 3 finale is set to air on Aug. 9.