House of the Dragon premiere drew nearly 10 million viewers, breaks HBO record
Prequel to Game of Thrones garnered the largest audience for any new original series in network's history
The premiere of House of the Dragon drew nearly 10 million viewers on Sunday on television and the HBO Max streaming service, the largest audience for any new original series in the history of the network, HBO reported.
Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the new series is set 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of House Targaryen.
The fantasy drama series is more self-contained than Game of Thrones, but like the original series, is full of graphic battles, household tension and dragons.
WATCH | Review of HBO Max's new series House of the Dragon:
Speaking with The Associated Press last week, actor Steve Toussaint said the show is not a remake of the former series.
"It's been done and they did it exceedingly well," he said. "You know you're in that world, but you're seeing a different story, different characters, different motivations."
Toussaint plays Lord Corlys Velaryon. The show also stars Paddy Considine as Viserys Targaryen, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Anticipation for House of the Dragon fanned conversation on social media, where it remained a top trending topic on Twitter for 14 hours, HBO said on Monday.
The first season will run for 10 episodes every Sunday from now until October.
With files from CBC News and The Associated Press