Game Of Thrones season eight arrived this past weekend after 18 months away from HBO screens.
And it seems like more people than ever arrived to watch the premiere of the new season, in which Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington) returned to Winterfell alongside his new partner Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke).
In a blog posted by HBO, the network revealed the the fantasy show accumulated a record number of viewers.
The premiere of the show’s final season was seen by 17.4 million viewers on Sunday night, 14 April.
In the statement HBO revealed they experienced the “largest night of streaming activity ever for HBO.”
They went on to say: “As a testament to the evolving video consumption habits of subscribers, the HBO NOW streaming service saw a jump of approximately 50% in viewing when compared to last season’s finale and nearly doubled (97 per cent) when compared to the seventh season premiere.”
Game of Thrones last saw a record number of viewers during the final half of season seven back in August 2017.
HBO welcomed 16.9 million viewers for that mind-blowing final episode.
Some feared the return of the show after 18 months would suffer from a reported leak of the first episode by DirecTV.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first episode dropped on the streaming
