HBO Max’s Hit Returning Thriller Beat To #1 on Streaming Charts by New Fantasy TV Show

HBO Max has another hit fantasy show on its hands, beating out several of its biggest ongoing series to claim the top spot on the streaming service. Success in the fantasy genre is something all major streaming services have chased in the last decade, and that’s largely due to HBO. The cable network created a pop-culture behemoth with Game of Thrones, and everyone, including HBO itself, has tried to repeat that recipe for success. Nothing has truly replaced it, but there have been plenty of shows successful in their own right, such as His Dark Materials and House of the Dragon.

Now, HBO and HBO Max have made another series that takes place in Westeros, with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Based on George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg books, the series follows Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, and his squire, Egg, on their journeys throughout Westeros. It’s a lot lighter in tone and smaller in scale than Game of Thrones, but that hasn’t stopped it becoming an instant success. As per FlixPatrol, the show immediately hit #1 on HBO Max’s U.S. charts after its release on January 18th, beating out acclaimed and buzzy shows like The Pitt, Heated Rivalry, and notably its current Sunday night stablemate (and lead-in show), Industry.

HBO’s Fantasy Future Is Bright, But How Big Will A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Be?

HBO and HBO Max have something of a lock on the fantasy genre right now. Along with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, there’s also House of the Dragon Season 3 coming later in 2026 (it’s expected to release sometime in the summer). Beyond that, HBO has already confirmed A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 2 for a 2027 release, and House of the Dragon Season 4 (expected to be the show’s last) for 2028. There are several more Game of Thrones spinoffs in development, too, though none that have officially been ordered to series.

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While A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is an instant streaming success, it’ll be interesting to see just how big it is. As mentioned, the show is not of the same scale as Thrones or House of the Dragon, and so it’s unlikely to pull in quite the same level of audience. House of the Dragon Season 2 averaged around 25 million cross-platform viewers in the U.S., itself a drop from Season 1’s 29 million, and nowhere near the 46 million of Game of Thrones Season 8. Seven Kingdoms will presumably be much smaller still but, given it’s a lower budget series, that shouldn’t matter as much. That said, the series is absolutely great, and deserves as big an audience as possible.

Beyond Westeros, HBO and HBO Max also have another major fantasy series on the horizon, which will quite possibly be its biggest hit over the next decade-plus: the Harry Potter reboot. While the point of a remake, given the movies are still pretty recent and certainly beloved, may be in question, what isn’t in doubt is that when Season 1 lands, it’s going to be huge, and become HBO’s flagship series, not just in the fantasy realm.

New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.

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