The third season of HBO's "House of the Dragon" continues to receive high ratings from viewers. The second episode, titled "King's Landing," received 9.5 points on IMDb based on more than 24 thousand ratings, taking first place among all episodes of the project to date.
Previously, the first episode of the season — "The Salt and the Sea, the Fire and the Blood," dedicated to the Battle of the Gullet — received 9.2 points based on more than 40 thousand reviews and entered the top five best episodes of the series according to platform users.
On aggregators, the situation looks a bit more controversial. Currently, the third season maintains a high 91% freshness from critics (based on 76 reviews), but the audience rating stopped at 69%. Thus, the rating of ordinary viewers is now lower than that of previous seasons. For comparison: the first chapter of the show received 90% from critics and 82% from viewers, and the second — 84% and 71% respectively.
It's too early to draw final conclusions from two episodes: by the finale, the indicators can both increase and decrease. However, as is often the case with adaptations of George R. R. Martin's books, part of the audience's dissatisfaction is traditionally associated with changes to the canon that the authors made to suit the series format.
The premiere of the third episode of the third season of "House of the Dragon" will take place on July 5, 2026. A total of eight episodes are planned for the season, and the finale will be released on August 10.