HBO Drops Game Of Thrones House Of The Dragon Episode One For Free As Rings Of Power Releases

By Aaron Perine

HBO Max is dropping House of the Dragon's first episode for free in response to Amazon releasing Rings of Power. The Lord of the Rings series has been highly-anticipated by most fantasy fans. It's been a wild time for fandoms in that space with both new Game of Thrones content and all these other offerings. Amazon is betting big on the Tolkien series cutting through. HBO is doing the same with House of Dragon due to the massive shakeups at Warner Bros. Discovery. It's no secret that CEO David Zaslav has made it his mission to make the prequel series as popular as possible. HBO set a record for marketing spent in their history when promoting the show. That investment seems to have paid off with record viewing numbers for the program across the world. Now, the task will be keeping eyeballs on the series as the weeks stretch on. Zaslav sounded confident about it in a recent memo sent to staff before the premiere.

"The entire HBO team have shepherded what looks to be the next big cultural moment. I had a chance to watch the premiere in Los Angeles with [HBO boss Casey Bloys] and the team and was blown away by the quality of the production, richness of the story, and power of the action," the CEO gushed. "It is something we should all be really proud of, and we cannot wait to share it with audiences worldwide. … We look forward to the start of this exciting new adventure, and to thrilling fans with the kind of buzzworthy cultural moments the Targaryen family is sure to deliver."

"We reached nearly 130 million people in the U.S. alone," he wrote. "It has also been exciting to see teams across the company work collaboratively with the HBO team in what has been an unprecedented cross-promotional campaign," Zaslav continued. "And we've done all of this in just a few short months, clearly showing what we can accomplish when our networks, streaming platforms, digital and social channels, all work collectively in support of one shared priority. We can really move the needle and I can't wait to see what we will do on future campaigns when we harness the full reach and unique opportunities we bring to the table."

HBO has a synopsis for their series: "The reign of House Targaryen begins. House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, is coming to HBO and HBO Max on August 21. Based on George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood," the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen. Paddy Considine (HBO's The Third Day and The Outsider), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin, Doctor Who), Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans to star. Additional cast members include Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn."

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