More than a decade later, it sounds ridiculous to suggest that the success of Game of Thrones might have been a surprise—the show became not just a money-maker for HBO, but a pop culture phenomenon; even the poorly received finale was on everyone’s minds, both before and after. HBO was clearly banking on Lord of the Rings-style crossover appeal, so there was a bit of precedent, but the series on which it was based remains a dense bit of door-stopper fantasy, each book running close to (or a bit over) a thousand pages.Author George R.R. Martin was justifiably well known among fantasy fans, but these weren’t the kind of books that people were discussing around the office water cooler.
And yet! The show started strong, if not spectacularly, but grew into a viewership powerhouse over the course of its first season, and held steady for most of its run. Even after that (generally) maligned finale, the spin-off House of the Dragon blew away the premiere of its predecessor in terms of numbers, doing business that puts it in line with that earlier shows peak—probably not a huge surprise, but the discourse around Game of Thrones had been all about its disappointing ending, so the spin-off wasn’t nearly a sure thing. It even seems to be outperforming Prime Video’s super pricey Lord of the Rings series, at least in terms of buzz.
Where to stream: HBO Max
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