You Can Now Watch HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ Premiere for Free on YouTube

If, by chance, you haven’t yet joined the army of HBO Max subscribers and are keen on all things Game of Thrones, then today is a very big day for you.

The inaugural episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, has been made available to watch for free via the official HBO Max YouTube channel.

See the House of the Dragon premiere below. Pop culture scholars will note the timing here is particularly interesting, given that the episode was made available just after Amazon Prime Video debuted the first episodes of its Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power.

With this Sunday’s airing of “Second of His Name,” House of the Dragon will be three episodes deep into its first season. In August, mere days after its history-making premiere, the series was renewed for a second season.

“We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one,” Francesca Orsi, Executive VP of HBO Programming, said when announcing the second season pickup. “Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV.”

Shortly after the renewal’s announcement, the Hollywood Reporterrevealed that director and co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik will exit the series. However, he will still serve in an executive producer capacity, not to mention continue to work on potential future projects as part of a first-look deal with HBO. In a statement, Sapochnik said he was “so proud” of what he and the team had accomplished with the show’s first season.