House of dragons

George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal know it's horrific and disturbing. Here's why they say it was necessary.

It’s kicked off by him believing that he’s going to have a new male son after trying for years and years, and stillbirths and miscarriages, and all the hell that [his wife Queen Aemma] has been through as a mother. “A lot of people had things to say about the birth of Baelon, Prince Baelon,” Those two sentence have been expanded into a forced C-section, with Aemma screaming in anguish as she is held down and cut open by doctors and midwives who hope to save the breech baby even at the expense of her life. The death of the baby, and of the king's wife, Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke), during the botched birth, creates a void that other family members rush to fill, brandishing swords and fire-breathing monsters to gain the upper hand. [Fire & Blood](https://georgerrmartin.com/grrm_book/fire-and-blood/), which inspired the Game of Thrones prequel. The House of the Dragon pilot’s graphic birth scene caused a visceral response even at the show's gala premiere.

In the lavish Game of Thrones prequel, no one is immune to the toxic dynamics of the Targaryen family.

The dynamic between the adult Daemon and the 15-year-old Rhaenyra is immediately, grotesquely charged; they converse, intimately, in High Valyrian, and he looks at her with the loaded interest of a cat eyeing a bird. That seems to mean that, at least in the first six episodes made available to critics, virtually every plotline and motivation feels the same, and there may be no heroes, ultimately, to root for. By the end of the first episode, the grieving Viserys is also being comforted by Rhaenyra’s best friend, the teenaged Lady Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), who has been compelled by her morose father (Rhys Ifans) to attend to the monarch despite her obvious reservations. On House of the Dragon, no primary relationship seems to be truly insulated from erotic desire, which is itself inextricable from the quest for power. An acknowledgment of the physically brutal and life-threatening reality of bearing children!) The show, based on a prequel history of the Targaryen family (which George R. It was present—most centrally in the sexual relationship between Jaime and Cersei Lannister, which Cersei justified by invoking the Targaryen tradition of marrying brothers and sisters—but not predominant until the final season, when Jon Snow and his aunt Daenerys made unfortunately literal the union of ice and fire. Or I will be”), and issue savage clapbacks (“And how have you served the realm, Lady Redwyne? Female characters school one another on patriarchal constraints (“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne”), affirm their authority (“I am the crown, Ser Criston. What was striking was the bifurcated way the person described the show’s framing for a post-#MeToo moment: conceding that there was “way less sex” in House of the Dragon than there could be in the good old tits-and-trebuchets days of yore, but also boasting that producers had cleverly adapted to the times by replacing sexual violence with barbaric renderings of childbirth. Martin published as Fire & Blood in 2018), begins 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Stormborn, the platinum-haired dragon queen in Thrones, and is in large part about the obstacles that stand in the way of women achieving and exerting power. But it also seems to strain at times with the possibly cynical effort of countering Game of Thrones’s Such “discomfort,” she explains, “is how [women] serve the realm.”) Think about this statement for a moment—that sexual violence is so fundamental to a franchise’s ethos that it has to be replaced with some other portrayal of primal female pain and suffering lest viewers lose interest—and your head might spin.

Sunday's long-awaited premiere aimed to create investment in a new royal power struggle while assuring viewers that this was still “Game of Thrones.”

[an interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-ryan-condal-miguel-sapochnik.html)before the season, Sapochnik discussed the importance of making the dragons feel like real, organic parts of the world. “And the day grows ugly …” Rhaenys deadpanned as the crowd delighted in the brutality, which was one way to put it. That poor mid-coital couple frozen on the floor of the brothel. The scene was a somber counterpoint to the chaos and violent agony that had come before it, and Sapochnik wisely let the quietness build. But based on his unhealing lesions and their evidence that the throne doesn’t like him — as well as the fact that this is a succession story, and that monarchs need to die for games of thrones to go on — he seems unlikely to occupy it for long. Sapochnik, the director of “Thrones” spectacles like Martin](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/arts/television/george-rr-martin-house-of-the-dragon.html), the “Thrones” godhead, wanted to go with all along, which is what we got on Sunday, complete with the more hulking Iron Throne. Second: The patriarchal leaders of the realm will resist attempts to put a woman on the Iron Throne. [HBO’s efforts](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-hbo-got.html), after the polarizing end of its biggest-ever hit, to keep the “Thrones” loot train going. “The childbed is our battlefield,” she said, and we saw how that turned out. (Though I admit that even in a more pensive register, the “duh-nuh-NUH-nuh” motif is very satisfying.) But it is fundamentally still the same ugly chair inspiring the same ugly feelings — anxiety, envy, power-lust, a willingness to betray friends and relatives.

The House of the Dragon premiere on HBO Max is crashing. Most of the reports come from users trying to watch on Amazon Fire Sticks, and some have been able ...

Still, they’ve generally held up well under the stress of premieres for content like Tenet, Wonder Woman, The Matrix, or Westworld, but for HBO there may not be anything like a [Game of Thrones](https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/12/8396301/hbo-now-game-of-thrones-season-5-premiere) premiere. In a statement emailed to The Verge, HBO’s Chris Willard said, “House of the Dragon is being successfully viewed by millions of HBO Max subscribers this evening. [unreleased](https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23288198/batgirl-warner-bros-release-canceled-streaming-theatrical) and [disappearing](https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/19/23313356/hbo-max-sesame-street-removed-infinity-train-summer-camp-island) content, there have been plenty of complaints about the HBO Max streaming apps since they launched.

Westeros is back, and with it, a slew of new contenders for the Iron Throne. The Seven Kingdoms' highest seat of power stays firmly within House Targaryen ...

It’s an act of kindness that flies not just in the face of Criston’s future as a knight of Westeros, but the entire series’ attitude toward its main cast. Above all these names, the most notable figure on the council is Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Hand of the King to Viserys. Next up is Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson) as Master of Coin, a man who has little to do or say at this point in the story, but will eventually have an unforgettable role in the question of Rhaenyra’s succession. Game of Thrones had its Red Weddings and Stark beheadings aplenty, but House of the Dragon is waiting in the wings with big “hold my ale” energy. Sadly, the change in opinion extends to Otto’s daughter Alicent (Emily Carey), Rhaenyra’s best friend and closest confidant. “The Sea Snake,” as he’s known, is the most accomplished sailor in all of Westeros and likely well beyond it. Money aside, he commands the greatest fleet in the realm; what the Targaryens boast in air power through their dragons, Lord Corlys more than compensates with his command of the seas. the man on the throne at the very start of the premiere. Think of him as an Eddard Stark in a Targaryen suit; just as the late Lord of Winterfell was honorable but ill-fitted for the machinations of King’s Landing, so too will Viserys find himself overwhelmed by the dangers that come with sitting on the Iron Throne. Daemon’s cruel tactics and crude tongue get him in enough hot water that even his one true ally, Viserys, turns his back on him by the end of the premiere. But there’s an Arya Stark streak within her as well: she’s a fierce fighter in her own right who can (and, sadly, will) endure untold amounts of pain, and dish it back out in kind. Westeros is back, and with it, a slew of new contenders for the Iron Throne.

Spoiler alert! The world of "Game of Thrones" returned to TV with HBO's "House of the Dragon" spinoff all about the Targaryens.

Otto chooses a meeting of the King's small council afterward to bring up the topic of succession, voicing his concerns about Daemon's temperament (and general hatred for the king's little brother). He also tells her about a prophecy their ancestor Aegon saw a hundred years ago, about the end of mankind starting with a great and terrible winter. Rhaenyra can fly on her dragon with her best friend Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey); Daemon can turn the City Watch into a murder brigade and creepily give his niece gifts; and Viserys can throw a jousting tournament in honor of his unborn sure-to-be son. He sends Alicent, his 15-year-old daughter, into the bedroom of the king, just to offer him some company, he says. He chooses the baby, and holds Aemma's hand while the medical "maesters" butcher her in a violent, bloody Caesarean section that leaves her bloody and dead on the bed. He has no time to discuss affairs of state with his Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) or potential war in the borderlands known as the Stepstones with Master of Ships Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). So to set the scene for "Dragon" we start with a prologue: The good Targaryen King Jaehaerys ruled over Westeros during a half century of peace, but he has no sons to succeed him on the Iron Throne. It's a slice of the "Thrones" world, mostly within the walls of the Red Keep in King's Landing (that's the palace in the fictional nation's capital, if you've forgotten since [ "Thrones" ended in 2019](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2019/05/21/game-of-thrones-tarnished-legacy-fan-anger-series-finale-iron-throne/3692682002/)). So he calls a great council to choose his heir, picking between his oldest descendent, Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) and his oldest male descendent, Prince Viserys (Paddy Considine). So what to think of "Dragon" after the first hour? It is not, perhaps, as bombastic as many fans would hope and, worse, does little to establish the characters as sympathetic or even intriguing (a [weakness that doesn't go away](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/08/19/house-of-the-dragon-review-game-of-thrones-spinoff-disappointment/10331489002/), at least not in the first six episodes made available for review). It doesn't quite grab you the way its predecessor did, but perhaps all the dragon flying, nudity and dismemberment the pilot delivers will be enough to bring fans back for Episode 2.

The “Game of Thrones” spinoff tries to recapture the magic through nostalgic detail, family fights, and grisly scenes of childbirth.

Rhaenyra’s voice-over tells us that the old king knew that “the only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself.” Ain’t that the truth, king. Like the infamous final season of “Thrones,” “Dragon” doesn’t always make the most of its story’s assets. There’s funny dialogue, but mostly of the unintentional variety: “Laughing with your whores and your lickspittles!” the king yells to a relative, in a rage. Will “House of the Dragon” have us obsessing about the Crabfeeder? “Game of Thrones,” for all its flaws, was a Sunday-night treasure for a reason: its wild inventiveness and beauty, its overstuffed intrigue and action, its humor, its characters. (Did they always sound so Wookiee-like?) And it’s hard not to love a show in which hundreds of flickering votive candles surround not rose petals and a proposal but a dragon skull the size of a Humvee. The Daemon-Rhaenyra dynamic, and Daemon’s flaxen wig and eyes narrowed in constant scheming, recalls the Targaryens we know best: Daenerys and her brother, also named Viserys, whose death in “Thrones” involved our rejoicing while he encountered a faceful of molten gold. “Dragon” swiftly provides some of the old “Thrones” pleasures. Inside the palace, Rhaenyra and her friend Alicent Hightower visit the hugely pregnant queen (“This discomfort is how we serve the realm,” she says, proud and grim), and then Rhaenyra zips off to a meeting of the king and his advisers, where, as she pours water for them, undercover-Arya style, she listens to the proceedings: reports that begin “We’ve all been poring over the moon charts”; a discussion of a pirate-punishing madman called the Crabfeeder. Martin’s “ [Fire and Blood](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593598008),” tells the story of House Targaryen in an era well before our old friends showed up—a hundred and seventy-two years before the death of the Mad King, the opening titles inform us, and the birth of his daughter Daenerys Targaryen. Like Rhaenyra, he’s a dragon rider—not just anybody can pilot those things—and, also like her, he’s a possible contender for the Iron Throne. The show opens not with a grim ice-monster sequence, as “Thrones” did—hat tip to that—but with the announcement, in a grand hall, of Prince Viserys (Paddy Considine) as the next king.

Never let it be said that a Game of Thrones property isn't going to deliver big, brutal events.

When Rhaenys remarks at the tournament that all the fighters have, as Best puts it, “their hands full of steel and none of them have ever known real war,” it’s a reminder that King’s Landing has been under Targaryen rule for centuries, leaving the empire rather lax and soft. “It was the biggest source of shame in Rhaenys’ life, and the fact that it’s constantly being referred to is really, really annoying.” By the end, he says, “you’re hopefully able to canter and hold some kind of sword in your hand.” “It’s not my natural habitat to be on a horse,” Smith says, adding that he and Frankel would pop into the scenes after the doubles took their falls. It was just shooting on the studio backlot, but Carey says doing that scene was the first moment where she was really reminded that, “Hey, this is Game of Thrones. Whee!—or they can roll the dice and risk the deaths of both his wife and the baby.

While we're at it, let's meet the other major players on Viserys' council: Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who's married to Viserys' cousin Rhaenys, and ...

Meanwhile, Daemon is at a brothel and goes on a rant about Viserys and his dead son, who was the “heir for a day.” His insolence makes it back to Otto Hightower, who then tells Viserys, who is, understandably, not happy. He also namedrops their ancestor Aegon Targaryen, the upcoming Long Winter that may lay ruin to Westeros and “a song of ice and fire,” which is basically the entire plot of “Game of Thrones.” After officially naming Rhaenyra as next in line for the Iron Throne, the council and other lords of Westeros pledge fealty to her and Viserys. Also, her best friend is Alicent Hightower (played as a teen by Emily Carey), who’s the daughter of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand to King Viserys. Desperate for a male heir, Viserys tells the maesters to operate on Aemma and remove the child. While we’re at it, let’s meet the other major players on Viserys’ council: Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who’s married to Viserys’ cousin Rhaenys, and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Viserys’ trouble-making younger brother who rides dragons, leads the city watch and kills criminals in the streets. This time, instead of a sprawling tale across different families and cities, “House of the Dragon” mostly centers on the royal Targaryen family in King’s Landing.

In the bloody, fiery wake of last night's House Of The Dragon premiere on HBO, Twitter's resident Westeros experts (and amateurs) had plenty of thoughts on ...

Milly Alcock as Young Rhaenyra, Emily Carey as Young Alicent in "House of the Dragon." The following contains spoilers about the premiere episode of " ...

contained in Martin's writing and the earlier series. Martin's struggles for the Iron Throne, the producers were clearly mindful of early criticisms of "Game of Thrones." Her husband, King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), is desperate for a son in order to secure a male heir to the throne, in accordance with tradition. That included incorporating people of color into the "House" cast and, as , fueling fierce debate about issues of forced birth and women's freedom to make their own healthcare choices. As

HBO Max crashed repeatedly for many viewers during the premiere of the streaming platform's highly anticipated “Game of Thrones” prequel on Sunday night, ...

The prequel, helmed by different directors than its predecessors, could provide a comeback of sorts for HBO. “House of the Dragon is being successfully viewed by millions of HBO Max subscribers this evening,” HBO said in a statement provided to multiple media outlets Sunday. The crashes introduced a technical hiccup into one of HBO’s most hotly awaited shows in years.

The Game of Thrones prequel shows patriarchy at its most dehumanizing — but in a post-Roe world, it was effective.

'House Of The Dragon' Pulls In 2.6M U.S. Streaming & Linear Households, Highest Same Day Viewership YTD.

[HBO](https://deadline.com/tag/hbo/) and HBO Max had a hit on their hands with [ the premiere of ](https://deadline.com/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-recap-hbo-1235096251/) [House of the Dragon](https://deadline.com/tag/house-of-the-dragon/), which in Samba TV-measured U.S. “Diehard GoT fans have been eagerly anticipating more from the franchise and they turned out in force for House of the Dragon, with the HBO program generating the biggest single day premium cable or streaming viewership premiere in 2022. Gen-Z (Adults 20-24) and millennials (Adults 25-34) both over-indexed in viewership by 4% and 1%, respectively. Samba TV also says that House of the Dragon exceeded initial same-day viewership of Netflix’s tentpole series Stranger Things (1.2 million U.S. Martin Game of Thrones spinoff, and the figures HBO are releasing later Monday are bound to be higher. Samba TV doesn’t measure mobile, however, their sample includes a panel of 3 million terrestrial TVs, weighted to the U.S.

Instead of a typical response about technical difficulties, HBO Max offered viewers advice on how to overcome the crash and watch 'House of the Dragon.'

A small portion of users attempting to connect via Fire TV devices had issues and we worked directly with impacted users to get them into the platform.” But several HBO Max subscribers were still tweeting about the crash come Monday morning. “Let us know if that helps!” Many also tweeted their complaints to HBO Max while the app was down. [the pilot episode of “House of the Dragon”](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-08-21/house-of-the-dragon-childbirth-scene-aemma-viserys-targaryen) debuted on the West Coast. [the “Game of Thrones” prequel series](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-08-19/house-of-the-dragon-review-hbo-game-of-thrones) reported experiencing an outage on the streaming platform, according to [DownDetector.com](https://downdetector.com/status/hbo-max/).

"House of the Dragon" — the highly anticipated "Game of Thrones" prequel — brought in roughly 10 million viewers for its first episode across linear and HBO ...

More information about [cookies](/cookie) [cookies](/cookie), [revised Privacy Policy](/privacy)and [Terms of Service](/terms). [House of the Dragon](http://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/entertainment/house-of-the-dragon-recap/index.html)" — the highly anticipated " [Game of Thrones](http://www.cnn.com/2022/08/21/entertainment/house-of-dragon-what-to-know-cec/index.html)" prequel — brought in roughly 10 million viewers for its first episode across linear and HBO Max platforms in the US on Sunday night, the network said on Monday.

HBO says “House of the Dragon” drew the largest audience in the pay TV channel's history, including content that debuted before the streaming era, as well as ...

Martin’s 2018 novel “Fire & Blood.” The series is set 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones” and tells the story of House Targaryen. And while viewership increased from the beginning of the season to the end — a rare and impressive feat — its premiere episode was [watched by 2.4 million people,](https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/euphoria-season-2-premiere-ratings-viewership-hbo-max-1235150258/) 76% less than “House of the Dragon.” We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan and Miguel have in store for them this season.” “House of the Dragon” is based on George R.R. As a result, series premiere “Heirs of the Dragons” outperformed the “Game of Thrones” series premiere, which brought in 4.2 million viewers in 2011. And while its perhaps unfair to compare “House of the Dragon” to the heights its predecessor eventually reached — “Game of Thrones” was watched by a record-breaking 17.9 million people with the premiere of its eighth and final season — there’s another, more recent HBO series that’s worth including in the conversation.

The network said viewership for the “Game of Thrones” spinoff was the biggest start for a series in its history.

[people associated ](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-hbo-got.html)with the show — including the writer who created the “Thrones” universe, [George R.R. Martin ](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/arts/television/george-rr-martin-house-of-the-dragon.html)— were concerned that the backlash would turn off viewers from giving “House of the Dragon” a chance. That episode, which aired in December, averaged 1.7 million viewers, a record for “Succession,” the network said. “House of the Dragon,” which benefited from a lavish marketing campaign, has nine more episodes this season. A strong debut from “House of the Dragon” is a source of comfort to HBO executives, and may be evidence that viewers are craving more stories from Westeros. “Game of Thrones,” the cable network said on Monday. In early September, Amazon will premiere its own splashy fantasy series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” [interview last month.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-hbo-got.html) “But it will have to do the work on its own to bring people in and to sustain the viewership.” Stories like this are possible because of our deep commitment to original reporting, produced by a global staff of over 1,700 journalists who have all dedicated themselves to helping you understand the world. [five other “Thrones” spinoff](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-hbo-got.html) ideas in development. [House of the Dragon](https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/house-of-the-dragon-hbo),” the much-anticipated “Game of Thrones” spinoff, was the most-watched episode of an HBO series since … The network said viewership for the “Game of Thrones” spinoff was the biggest start for a series in its history.

The first episode of "House of the Dragon" was seen by 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platform Sunday night, the largest audience of any ...

"House of the Dragon" tells the story of the Targaryen civil war that took place about 200 years before the events portrayed in "Game of Thrones." "House of the Dragon," only the second entrant in its Game of Thrones franchise, has a lot to prove, and to live up to. This is the largest audience of any new original series in the history of HBO, the company said. Discovery revealed that 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms tuned in to watch the first episode of the prequel series Sunday night. It seems, fans of the high fantasy series were at least intrigued enough to settle in to watch the first episode of the series, leading to HBO's biggest series premiere in its history. - The first episode of "House of the Dragon" was seen by 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platform on Sunday night.

Some HBO subscribers had trouble watching the 'Game of Thrones' prequel, and the network is suggesting that Amazon is the issue.

For more insider behind-the-scenes details on House of the Dragon, see The Hollywood Reporter‘s recent deep-dive cover story: “ “House of the Dragon is being successfully viewed by millions of HBO Max subscribers this evening,” HBO said in a statement. We’ve worked with HBO to resolve it, and HBO has pushed out a fix resolving the issue.” [Share this article on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&title=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max&sdk=joey&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=share_button&app_id=352999048212581) [Share this article on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&text=%E2%80%98House%20of%20the%20Dragon%E2%80%99%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max&via=thr) [Share this article on Email](mailto:?subject=thr%20:%20‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max&body=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/%20-%20‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max) [Show additional share options](#) [Share this article on Print]() [Share this article on Comment](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/#respond) [Share this article on Whatsapp](whatsapp://send?text=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max%20-%20https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/) [Share this article on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=1&url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&title=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max&summary&source=thr) [Share this article on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&title=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max) [Share this article on Pinit](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&description=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max) [Share this article on Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/widgets/share/tool/preview?shareSource=legacy&canonicalUrl&url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dragon-premiere-crashes-hbo-max-app-1235203198/&posttype=link&title=‘House%20of%20the%20Dragon’%20Premiere%20Crashes%20HBO%20Max) [House of the Dragon](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/house-of-the-dragon/) is already living up to its predecessor, Game of Thrones — Sunday’s series premiere has crashed an app to view the show. [Inside House of the Dragon](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/house-of-the-dragon-game-of-thrones-prequels-1235181929/).” Amazon added a statement on their end on Monday: “There was an issue with the HBO Max app which affected a small number of users attempting to watch House of the Dragon on a subset of Fire TV devices. House of the Dragon chronicles the civil war that ripped apart Westeros nearly 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones. [many are positioning as Dragon’s big rival](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-of-the-dragon-vs-the-lord-of-the-rings-1235200252/). That the issue may be Fire TV is rather ironic as Amazon also makes the upcoming fantasy drama The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — a show that According to DownDetector.com, the crash impacted at least 3,000 viewers. “We’re aware of a small portion of users attempting to connect via Fire TV devices that are having issues and are in the process of resolving for those impacted users.” [HBO](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/hbo/) subscribers took to Twitter to complain about not being able to watch the highly anticipated fantasy drama’s premiere due to technical issues presumably caused by a flood of viewers.

Nearly 10 million people tuned in to the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon Sunday, making it the most watched series premiere in HBO and HBO Max ...

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After the "House of the Dragon" premiere, HBO Max's Twitter customer help account asked @hbomax if it needed technical help.

[completed a months-long process to update HBO Max apps across all platforms to “a more performant tech stack”](https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/hbo-max-upgraded-apps-stable-tech-stack-1235336052/) along with enhanced design and navigation features. HBO Max, in a statement Sunday, said a “small portion” of customers who were using Amazon’s Fire TV devices had trouble accessing the service and that it was working to resolve the issues. ET premiere of the “Game of Thrones” prequel series, had