'House of the Dragon' becomes the biggest European launch for HBO and HBO Max

'Game of Thrones' prequel 'House of the Dragon' debuted on HBO Max in Europe with the largest ever growing audience for any new series or movie on an HBO streaming service.

The first episode was uploaded to HBO Max in 21 European countries across the Nordics, the Netherlands and Central and Eastern Europe and Iberia at 3am CET on Mondays.

"The platform saw unprecedented demand from the early hours that peaked on Monday evening," an HBO statement said. Viewing numbers were not provided.

An HBO Max spokesperson said, "'House of the Dragon' is by far the biggest launch in HBO and HBO Max history in Europe, breaking previous records for a new title. The number of viewers for the first episode exceeded all expectations.”

In neighboring UK, "House of the Dragon" turned out to be a Sky record and Sky by Comcast Atlantic, with 1.9 million viewers, tops "Game of Thrones".

In the United States, the premiere of "House of the Dragon" drew nearly 10 million viewership across linear media and HBO Max on Sunday night to become the largest audience for any new original series in HBO history.

Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the 10-part series, which will premiere at course of the next nine Mondays, takes place 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones" and tells the story of House Targaryen. The series stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans.

George R.R. Martin is co-creator and executive producer.

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