Overview
- HBO says the premiere amassed 6.7 million U.S. cross-platform viewers in its first three days, placing it among the streamer’s top three series launches.
- The show holds a 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the best first-season rating for a Game of Thrones franchise series so far.
- Season 2 is already ordered, with the production actively underway as the creative team leans into a smaller, more humorous Westeros story.
- George R. R. Martin noted surprise at a crude opening gag as showrunner Ira Parker defended it as a statement of the series’ grounded perspective.
- Early analysis points to the series foregrounding a long-running question about whether Ser Duncan was formally knighted, setting up a key character mystery.