As Amazon finally released its highly-anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video with a two episode premiere, HBO put the first episode of its recently launched Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, onto YouTube for free. House of the Dragon premiered on August 21.
Although the House of the Dragon episode appeared on YouTube before this writing without a geographical block in place, it seems that access may currently only be granted to viewers in the US. The video is age restricted and only available in regions where HBO Max is available.
Within five days of its debut, House of the Dragon was renewed for Season 2. The series premiere also set a viewership record for HBO with 10 million same-day viewers. HBO also subsequently reported that the first episode reached more than 20 million viewers across linear, on-demand, and HBO Max. Episode 2 was even bigger than the record-setting series premiere, picking up 10.2 million same-night viewers.
Also swirling around the House of the Dragon premiere is some activity regarding personnel changes. On August 31, House of the Dragon showrunner Miguel Sapochnik announced he’s exiting the series, citing an “exhausting” three years invested into the prequel series just to get it to this point. Sapochnik, a Game of Thrones veteran, will be replaced in a fashion by the franchise’s Alan Taylor, who will executive produce and direct multiple Season 2 episodes.
It’s a good time to be a fantasy fan with so many big tentpole series currently airing new episodes, and Amazon’s Lord of the Rings is worth a look alone for its budget commanding hundreds of millions of dollars. You can check out what critics everywhere thought about the long-awaited and very expensive TV series, plus GameSpot’s own favorable review.
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