The blood flowed thicker than usual on Sunday night's "Game of Thrones," but a jump in carnage apparently doesn't necessarily lead to a corresponding surge in ratings.
Sunday's episode pulled in 5.22 million total viewers with its initial airing — a number that bested nearly all of the primetime offerings from the major broadcast networks that night, save for "60 Minutes," which drew 8.4 million total viewers.
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The now-infamous "red wedding" episode of "Game of Thrones" performed, as expected, quite well for HBO, and even improved upon the previous episodes impressive performance. But the episode — which rocked viewers and the internet alike with its nuptials-related gore — provided a relatively modest jolt for the dragons-and-swords fantasy epic.
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But while many shows would kill (possibly by brutal decapitation) for those numbers, Sunday's "Game of Thrones" was a relatively marginal boost, inching up 2 percent from the series' last original airing on May 19.
The current third season kicked off in April, hitting a new series high by drawing 4.2 million total viewers with its premiere. The show went on to improve on that, amassing 5.3 million total viewers with its April 28 episode.
Across two airings, Sunday's "Game of Thrones" amassed 6.3 million total viewers.