Game of Thrones Ratings Holding Steady, Showing Huge Increase From Season 7

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones has been an absolute ratings juggernaut for HBO over the past month or so. Each episode so far has been one of the biggest hours of television in the premium network’s history, with “The Long Night” topping them all. Last week’s Battle of Winferfell was going to be a hard one to follow as far as the ratings were concerned, but Sunday night’s new edition managed to keep the pace.

According to Deadline, this week’s “The Last of the Starks” episode of Game of Thrones had 11.80 million people tune in live to watch, earning a 5.07 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic. That marks only a slight drop from “The Long Night” last Sunday, which set a record for HBO with 12.02 million watching.

While it saw a little bit of a dip from week to week, Game of Thrones is delivering much better ratings in Season 8 than it did in Season 7. “The Long Night” is up 16% in viewership from 2017’s record-setting episode “The Spoils of War.”

In addition to massive ratings, “The Long Night” also delivered on a relationship that fans have been waiting for years to see come to fruition. Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth finally got together at the beginning of the episode, but he ultimately left her to return to King’s Landing by the end.

Following the episode, Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie opened up about the heartbreaking decision in an interview with EW.

“…I was so upset for her. I know it’s just a character and I’m an actor who’s lucky to do her job. It’s so heartbreaking. But it’s life isn’t it? Life is heartbreaking,” Christie explained. “I never assumed they would be together. I didn’t think that would happen. And now I can feel a million hearts breaking.”

What did you think of the new episode of Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments!

New episodes of Game of Thrones air on Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on HBO.

—–

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we share our Detective Pikachu review, talk MCU Phase 4, Marvel’s new Hulu shows, and more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!