House Of The Dragon Season 3 Officially Debuts To New Series Record Audience Rotten Tomatoes Score

2 days ago 9

Rhaenyra reading a map in House of the Dragon season 3 episode 1

Published Jun 22, 2026, 2:54 PM EDT

Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 1!House of the Dragon season 3 just broke a series record, for better or worse.

The Game of Thrones prequel series has officially debuted to a record audience Rotten Tomatoes just one day after its return on HBO and HBO Max. House of the Dragon season 3 kicks off the Dance of the Dragons in a proper fashion, promising to finally showcase the all-out war between the Greens and the Blacks following season 2's cliffhanger ending. So far, the season 3 premiere has showcased the Battle of the Gullet, a naval fight between House Verlaryon and the Triarchy, featuring a number of dragons and major deaths in the process.

Now, Rotten Tomatoes reports that House of the Dragon season 3 has set an unfortunate record for the Game of Thrones spinoff. As of writing, season 3 holds a 69% among viewers based on over 250 ratings. While some viewers praise the spectacle the constant presence of dragons throughout the episode, many are disappointed with deviations from the source material, George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. The writing is also panned as weak, with many finding it dull, thus damaging the spectacular craft of the fight scenes.

This makes season 3 the lowest-rated season of the show, trailing just shy of season 2's 72%. This is despite critics praising House of the Dragon season 3 as the best of the show, having given it high marks for its fast pace, brutal action, and profound character moments. However, critics were privy to more of the season than audiences, who have only seen the very first episode as of writing. Depending on how the show handles itself moving forward, this low score could easily change.

Daemon on the battlefield in House of the Dragon

However, the series has lots of goodwill it needs to earn back if audiences are already dissatisfied. House of the Dragon season 2 ended by teasing that the Dance of the Dragons was about to begin, something season 1 also laid the groundwork for. This led season 2 to feel like a retread, while also presenting Rhaenyra and Alicent in ways audiences felt were antithetical to their characters in season 1. Some of those same problems are here, say a handful of negative audience reviews, that see season 3 as an extension of these issues rather than a fix.

There has also been outrage over House of the Dragon season 3, episode 1's major death in Jacaerys Velaryon. While he was destined to die at the Battle of the Gullet, as per Martin's source material, the circumstances were heavily altered in contrast to the book. This has soured some audience members, leading to the lower score for the show. However, it hasn't stopped many from praising the political intrigue and character interactions, which make for a good contrast to the beautifully crafted large-scale battles.

With seven episodes left, it's unclear if House of the Dragon can win back the goodwill of its audience by fixing some of the problems viewers have with the show. Since critics saw more episodes and have extremely positive things to say about its direction in the coming weeks, the premiere might just be the growing pains of the show's new direction as the Targaryen civil war finally begins.