As soon as HBO and Prime Video announced release dates for their most anticipated series in 2022, we knew we’d be witnessing epic stories collide. We’re not complaining, of course, but HBO has unveiled a strategy that could cut first-day viewership from The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. Today the network decided to upload the complete first series Dragon House available for free on YouTube. Coincidence?
Not that HBO needs a raise Game of Thrones prequel series popularity: first week only Dragon House broke the network and HBO Max’s records to become their most watched title, drawing over 20 million viewers who were poised to return to Westeros three years later. The extreme popularity of the new series prompted it to be renewed ahead of schedule for season 2.
The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power - which is also a prequel series - was also released in the sophomore year, but long before the premiere. In fact, Amazon Studios seems so confident of its success that the showrunners JD Payne as well as Patrick McKay A five-season arc has already been announced. It’s not hard to see this happening, but a Middle-earth TV series doesn’t come cheap. In fact, it’s the most expensive season ever made for TV, with the license alone costing $250 million and the set of episodes costing $500 million. You can of course see how expensive it is when you stream the first two episodes that were available today, but that also means that The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power must keep raking in new subscribers to keep moving forward. Either this or Jeff Bezos will need to refrain from flying around the Earth’s orbit.
Over the next six weeks or so, Dragon House as well as The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power will be the talk of the town as both high-profile series reach the high points of their season (in terms of storyline) in virtually the same weeks. However, fans of epic stories can have a great weekend, with Prime Video releasing new episodes on Fridays and HBO releasing new episodes on Sundays.
Dragon House partly based on books by the author of the series of novels George R. R. Martinbut mostly on the mythology of Westeros, which Martin created and developed to build the best storytelling for Song of Ice and Fire. TV series the action takes place about 200 years before the events Game of Thrones, and is centered around the long reign of House Targaryen before the Iron Throne was taken over by House Baratheon. The first episode, titled “Heirs of the Dragon”, introduces the ruling Targaryen family and their struggle to decide who will be the next member to take the Iron Throne.
You can watch the full first episode Dragon House below:
Source: Collider
