HBO’s House of the Dragon has been the very definition of a slow build-and-burn so far. It has been a great show, gripping at times. However, it was very clearly taking time to lay out the board and set the pieces.
Game Of Thrones was a politically charged thriller beneath the fantasy drama. House Of The Dragon is more like a tragedy. Bad assumptions, mistaken loyalties, and sheer bad circumstances have brought many of the characters to where they are now.
The slow build exploded into life this week with the fourth episode – The Red Dragon And The Gold. There was a major battle sequence, dragon on dragon action, and the events of the episode drove huge changes that will now ripple out across the world of the show.
This episode was a big hit with viewers as well. It pulled in 8.1 million viewers across HBO and Max in the U.S. on release day. Figures show a lot of viewers hanging on to jump in and binge-watch. Now that a few episodes have landed, the total viewership is approaching 25 million viewers, with a jump in binge-watching happening over the July 4th weekend.
The series is set about 100 years after the Seven Kingdoms were united by the Targaryen conquest, nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. It tells the story of the events leading up to the decline of House Targaryen, a devastating war of succession known as the Dance of the Dragons.
There are still four episodes to go in this season, and new episodes will continue to drop weekly. House of the Dragon has already been renewed for a third season by HBO, and talks are underway for a fourth.