House of the Dragon premiere drew nearly 10 million viewers, breaks HBO record

The premiere of House of the Dragondrew nearly 10million viewers on Sunday on television and the HBO Maxstreaming service, the largest audience for any new originalseries in the history of the network, HBO reported.

Based on George R.R. Martin'sFire & Blood,the new seriesis set 200 years beforeGame of Thrones,telling the story of House Targaryen.

The fantasy drama series is more self-containedthan Game of Thrones,but like the original series, is full of graphic battles, household tension anddragons.

WATCH | Review of HBO Max's new seriesHouse of the Dragon:

Review: HBO Max's new series House of the Dragon

2 years ago

Duration 3:30

House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, looks at the story of the Targaryen civil war.

Speaking with The Associated Press last week, actorSteve Toussaintsaid the show is not a remake of the former series.

"It's been done and they did it exceedingly well," he said."You know you're in that world, but you're seeing a different story, different characters, different motivations."

Toussaint plays Lord Corlys Velaryon. The show also stars Paddy Considineas Viserys Targaryen, Matt Smith asPrince Daemon TargaryenandEmma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Anticipationfor House of the Dragon fanned conversation on social media, whereitremained a top trending topic on Twitter for 14 hours, HBO saidon Monday.

The first season will run for 10 episodes every Sunday from now untilOctober.