A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Ratings Prove Audiences Aren’t Tired of Westeros Just Yet
Rumors of the Game of Thrones franchise's death are apparently exaggerated.
HBO’s Game of Thrones is, without question, one of the most successful fantasy properties of all time. It’s also one of the most controversial, thanks to its hotly debated final season, which featured everything from pacing problems and character deaths to big twists that felt almost completely unearned. (Save one, anyway.) But while many of us may never stop complaining about how the flagship series wrapped its story up, we’re also apparently still eager to see more stories set in George R.R. Martin’s world of Westeros.
Per Deadline, the first episode of the new Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, drew 6.7 million viewers over the three days following its premiere on HBO and HBO Max. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, that makes the show “a top three series launch” in the history of the HBO Max streaming platform, though the company did not share the other two titles on this particular list.
Yes, before anyone asks, Seven Kingdoms’ ratings are lagging a bit behind those of its fellow Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. But still, these numbers represent a rather hefty showing, particularly when compared to the network’s other big January premieres, such as The Pitt season 2 (5.4 million viewers) and Industry season 4 (800,000 viewers).
Given that the show has already been renewed for a second season, the specific numbers themselves probably don’t actually matter all that much. What’s more important is what this result says about the people watching. Because this series success firmly indicates that viewers are apparently not as over Game of Thrones as many would like to believe.
A lower-stakes, scaled-down version of the Thrones universe, Seven Kingdoms follows the story of a loveably dumb hedge knight (Peter Claffey) and his squire (Dexter Sol Ansell) during a chaotic tournament in the Reach. It’s a story that’s lacking in many of the elements we consider central to this world: There are no dragons or magic, and characters from big, influential families hover on the edges of the story rather than drive its actions. And viewers are clearly into it anyway. If anything, Seven Kingdoms is a proof of concept that HBO can take some risks when it comes to this universe and audiences will still tune in.
Though it’s set nearly 200 years before the events of Thrones, House of the Dragon often feels like a fairly close approximation of the original series, with its intense politics, near-constant betrayals, and massive dragon battles. Seven Kingdoms is very deliberately not that, and its initial success must be a balm to the studio execs who are trying to find ways to further expand this fictional world onscreen.
We already know that more spinoffs are coming, and some of the rumored projects in the works include everything from a rumored Arya Stark follow-up and a retelling of Aegon’s Conquest to an animated series following the seafaring adventures of Corlys Velaryon. But the subject matter may not really matter in the end, not when there’s so much lore and history in this universe that’s worth exploring and clear evidence that audiences are willing to come along for the ride, no matter what.