Fans of the "Game of thrones" series, which ended three years earlier, were there for the launch of its prequel "House of the dragon", whose story takes place almost 200 years before the original series.

The first episode garnered 9.98 million viewers when it aired Sunday night in the United States on HBO Max channels, a traditional channel as a platform, achieving "the largest audience for a new original series in HBO history". , detailed on Monday evening the WarnerMedia group, parent company of HBO.

This first broadcast also represented "the largest series launch on HBO Max in the United States, Latin America and the EMEA region (Europe Middle East Africa, editor's note), resulting in an unprecedented level of simultaneous streams on the platform. “, adds the American entertainment giant.

"House of the Dragon" is based on the book "Fire and Blood" by George RR Martin, creator of the literary saga "Game of thrones" (GOT).

The story takes place 200 years before the events of GOT and tells the story of the bloodthirsty Targaryen family and their seventeen dragons.

In this prequel, consisting of nine episodes, "GOT" fans will discover the ancestors of the heroes of the eight seasons of the HBO series broadcast between 2011 and 2019.

The cast includes Emma D'Arcy (Wanderlust), Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown), Rhys Ifans (The King's Man, Spiderman) and Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel, Ready Player One) and Paddy Considine.

The series, which mixes fantasy and political intrigue, begins at the height of the Targaryen dynasty whose power, which rests essentially on its mastery of dragons, is weakened by succession struggles.

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This HBO production will have to compete, in terms of popularity and audience, with the series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" derived from the fantastic literary saga, created by JRR Tolkien, and adapted at great expense by Amazon Prime Video.

The group had acquired the rights to adapt the universe of hobbits and elves about five years earlier for 250 million dollars.

Amazon is said to have budgeted over $1 billion for the five scheduled seasons of "Rings of Power", each slated to run for ten hours.

The first season will air from September 2.

© 2022 AFP