'House of the Dragon' premieres with tribute to Daenerys Targaryen

Kylie Mar

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the series premiere of House of the Dragon.

Sunday was a big night for Game of Thrones fans, as the highly anticipated spinoff House of the Dragon finally premiered. In fact, so many people tuned in to watch the series premiere that HBO Max crashed for some subscribers!

The prequel, based on George R.R. Martin's novel Fire & Blood, is set nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and chronicles the beginning of the end of House Targaryen, including the events leading up to the Targaryen war of succession known as the "Dance of the Dragons."

Following the opening scene, a prologue explained that the events of this series takes place "172 years before the death of the mad king, Aerys, and the birth of his daughter, Princess Daenerys Targaryen," with the words ultimately fading out to only read "172 years before Daenerys Targaryen." Fans absolutely loved the subtle tribute to the beloved character from the original series, and took to Twitter with comments like:

As for the rest of the series premiere, House of the Dragon delivered all the violence GoT was notorious for and even killed off a key character two-thirds of the way into the first episode. Again, typical GoT.

However, some viewers weren't loving a couple plot points, like the fact that King Viserys Targaryen chose to let his wife, Queen Aemma Targaryen, die in labor to save his male heir as they thought it hit a little too close to home when it comes to real-life politics.

In another scene, Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, sends his 14-year-old daughter Alicent to King Viserys's chambers to comfort him by sleeping with him. And while the series is set in 112 AC, and is also, well, a fictional television show, some just thought the idea was a little too unacceptable.

But overall, most people, and even the ones still bitter about the Game of Thrones series finale, are glad to be back in Westeros.

House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.

Watch Zachary Quinto finding out his unlikely 'Star Trek' connection to his great-grandfather:

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