It appears the shine was not completely obscured by the massive turd that the conclusion of Game of Thrones delivered to us, as people turned out in throngs to watch the first spinoff series for the show, House of the Dragon, in a huge way. In fact, it was so huge that HBO has greenlit House of the Dragon season 2 just one week after the first episode aired.
Now, season 2 of House of the Dragon was basically a foregone conclusion given the amount of money and work Warner Bros. has wrapped up in making Game of Thrones into a massive, multi-series franchise, but the stratospheric viewing numbers probably helped a bit. HBO reported that the show was the biggest premiere for the channel ever, and with all viewership counted (live and streaming), the series has seen 20 million viewers after four days of playback. Reviews for the show have also been positive, meaning HBO can rest assured it has a winner on its hands, barring the complete collapse of the series in the latter half of its 10-episode season.
In this day and age, a renewal a week after a massive show premiered may actually seem like a slow reaction, as streamers sometimes announce second seasons of shows before the first season has even landed. But House of the Dragon is technically a broadcast series on HBO, not a streaming series, and those work a bit differently. The 10-episode season also cost around $20 million to produce per episode, meaning the money folks probably wanted to at least see some sort of return before committing what will probably be even more cash to the second season, especially with all the false starts over the years.
“We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” said Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming. “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. A huge thank you to George, Ryan, and Miguel for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”
