Surprising no one, the Game of Thrones finale was a ratings smash. The episode, “The Iron Throne,” attracted 19.3 million viewers across all platforms right away, HBO announced. This includes 13.6 million people who watched the linear TV broadcast on HBO, and the rest coming from replays and streaming.
The previous record for a linear broadcast episode on HBO was 13.4 million from Season 4 premiere of The Sopranos back in 2002. “The Iron Throne” is the most-watched episode of the final Game of Thrones season, surpassing “The Bells,” which had 18.4 million viewers.
Overall, Game of Thrones Season 8 averaged 44.2 million viewers per episode after a week of viewing, which is up by more than 10 million over the average of Season 7.
HBO also announced that the show that follows Game of Thrones on HBO, Barry, reached 2.7 million viewers for its own season finale to reach an all-time series high. It is up 253 percent from the previous season’s finale which attracted 774,000 viewers.
“The Iron Throne” was written and directed by Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. The pair are finished with Game of Thrones, but the series will continue through prequels, one of which stars Naomi Watts and begins filming this year. On May 26, HBO will air a two-hour Game of Thrones Season 8 documentary that promises to dive deep into the story behind how the final season came to be.
Weiss and Benioff are now working on a new Star Wars trilogy with Lucasfilm, the first instalment of which will premiere in 2022. They are also shopping around for a new “overall” deal with multiple different studios, according to a report.
For more on Episode 6, check out the show’s latest coffee cup-style gaffe (this time featuring a pair of water bottles) and a reminder of who was at the council meeting (there were some faces present who we hadn’t seen in years). For our thoughts on the final episode, check out our “The Iron Throne” review.