HBO Max’s ‘House Of The Dragon’ Premiere Hiccup Frustrated Viewers (But It’s Ultimately Good News)

HBO has a lot riding on those dragon riders of House of the Dragon‘s contenders and pretenders. Plenty of people felt dubious about whether the prequel could help make up for the lingering string of Game of Thrones‘ eighth season, but the good news is HotD is actually quite good. Not only that, but there was already some literal “HotD” in the form of Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen already getting sort-of randy. He has issues! Alright, he’s a damn mess, but more to our current point, people tuned into the premiere.

Oh boy, did they. As it turns out HBO Max servers weren’t prepared for the live streaming onslaught, which is both surprising (considering the franchise’s blockbuster viewership for the flagship series) but inevitable. More people are likely streaming three years later rather than tuning in on premium cable TV, and yup, it was Crash City up in there. This should be good news, even if it frustrated people, because that means that the audience is there, clamoring for more Westeros tales.

And let’s just say that HBO Max will want to beef up their streaming servers, so that people can tune in for more “Dracarys” and watch all dominoes line up as the Targaryens start to firm up the lineage. And when that Jon Snow spinoff finally arrives, we’ll all know nothing (just like him) other than we’ll wanna stream this one live. All of that’s thinking well ahead in the future, but in the meantime, let’s check in on how everyone responded to HBO Max crashing halfway through the premiere episode.

House of the Dragon airs (and theoretically streams) Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.