But I think they bring out a softness in one another.

And that dynamic was really interesting to play around with in those meetings

because there'd be moments of complete softness and vulnerability

and you think maybe there is a spark between them that's very strange.

And then they'd hit a wall and that spike would come out and it would feel spiky and edgy and uncomfortable again.

And it was really interesting to play around with.

Welcome back to West of Westeros, Entertainment Weekly's Game of Thrones podcast

where we cover all corners of the Game of Thrones cinematic universe, but especially House of the Dragon, which is currently airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.

I'm Nick Romano, a senior writer here at EW, and I'm joined each week by my fantastic co-host, Lauren Morgan.

Lauren, are you ready to dive into another episode of this Targaryen saga that we're going on?

Jekaris, baby. Let's get going.

So, Lauren, before we get into the nitty-gritty of episode two, we have some news this week.

HBO has officially renewed House of the Dragon for season two.

This was just days after reporting that the premiere episode marked the biggest series premiere in HBO history.

According to the network, just about 10 million viewers, including those on the HBO Mac streaming platform, watch the first episode.

HBO also states that by Friday, that number had surpassed 20 million viewers combined across linear TV watching on demand and HBO Max platforms.

This seems like a pretty good sign, right?

Yeah, yeah. I was, you know, when they announced the first batch of the ratings, I was like, that's a huge number.

And I wasn't really surprised when they announced the renewal because I was like, yeah, of course, you know, and also they put so much money into this production and all this kind of stuff. It would be just stupid for them to be like, no, we're not going to do a season two. Obviously, there's an audience for it. And then also when you see what the numbers were over the course of the week and that there's like an additional 11 million, that's a big chunk of people to be watching

this show. So totally not surprised whatsoever by this whole thing. Yeah, I also feel like it's

definitely happy news for anyone who's been following along with all the drama with the Warner

Brothers Discovery merger and

...