Fan reaction to “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” the House of the Dragon season three premiere, was a bit mixed—head to social media, and you’ll find viewers wondering why the Battle of the Gullet didn’t come at the end of season two, or marveling at Rhaenyra being stymied by a locked door, or defending Sheepstealer for just doing what a dragon does. But one thing is certain: a lot of people tuned in to watch.
Variety reports the House of the Dragon season three premiere pulled in “21.5 million global viewers in its first three days of availability.” That number represents “a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of viewers on HBO‘s cable channel and Warner Bros. Discovery’s own data regarding streams on HBO Max.”
Notably, that’s a decrease compared to the three-day total for season two’s premiere, which arrived in June 2024. “The second season managed to cross 23.4 million viewers in three days,” Variety writes, while noting that the current season “is competing for viewership with the FIFA World Cup.”
While we’re not sure how much crossover there is between those fandoms, it is certain that neither season made the impact of House of the Dragon season one, which arrived in August 2022—a time when Game of Thrones‘ controversial finale, which aired in May 2019, was still fresh in fans’ collective memories—and set a record as HBO’s most-watched debut episode. Its ratings climbed even higher with its second episode.
Elsewhere in Westeros, earlier this year A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms notched the “third biggest series debut in the history of HBO Max,” according to reports at the time; throughout its run, it averaged nearly 13 million viewers per episode. The comparison isn’t quite exact, though; among other differences, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episodes ran around 30 minutes, whereas House of the Dragon is an hour-long show.
The takeaway from all this is that while the House of the Dragon season three premiere didn’t eclipse what came before, it’s still drawing a large audience. There are still seven episodes left to go, plus a fourth and final season—so it’s yet to be determined how many eyeballs will follow the Dance of the Dragons to its bitter end.
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