(HBO)

HBO is staying in Westeros. To the surprise of no one, House of the Dragon has been renewed for a second season on the cable channel. The series launched last Sunday. The first season of 10 episodes is expected to conclude on October 23rd.

A fantasy series, the House of the Dragon TV show is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood novel and is a prequel to Game of Thrones. It stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Additional cast includes Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn. The series tells the very complicated and violent story of House Targaryen.

In the live+same day ratings (including DVR playback through 3:00 AM), the series premiere of House of the Dragon drew a 0.55 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 2.17 million viewers.

HBO has reported that, across the channel’s linear and digital services, the first episode attracted 9.986 million viewers on Sunday. According to HBO, over 20 million viewers across linear, On Demand, and HBO Max platforms have watched the premiere in the United States.

Of the renewal, Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, said, “We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one. Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV. A huge thank you to George, Ryan, and Miguel for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two.”

What do you think? Have you watched the House of the Dragon TV series on HBO? Are you glad to hear that the show has been renewed for a second season?