Despite the influx of love and all the Targaryen memes, the fantasy series House of the Dragon has lost the throne for viewership records. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sylvester Stallone’s TV series over at Paramount Plus, Tulsa King, has overtaken HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off in the bid for 2022’s number-one show.
The publication sites that Nielsen numbers provided by Paramount indicate that Tulsa King scored 3.7 million viewers for its debut episode. Tulsa King is the latest show to hail from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. Given that the episode aired after the hit drama series Yellowstone – which alone had eight million viewers – beating the record of House of the Dragon’s first episode may not seem that surprising to many TV fans at all.
But, whether it was helped by its Yellowstone timeslot or not, the good news is that thanks to its success, Tulsa King season 2 has already been announced.
“Tulsa King scored as the number one new series of the year, topping all others, including the Game of Thrones sequel House of the Dragon,” said Paramount Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios president and CEO Chris McCarthy in a statement sent to the publication.
“With its preview on Paramount Network, and on Paramount Plus, it shattered records, driving us to our biggest new signup day in history, which is why we instantly greenlit season 2,” the statement continued.
Tulsa King follows Stallone playing a gangster who, after being released from prison, is forced to head to Oklahoma and begins to rebuild his crime empire. Paramount Streaming’s chief programming officer Tanya Giles commented on the series’ success stating, “With the combination of the incomparable Sylvester Stallone and Taylor Sheridan’s darkly comedic twist on the beloved mobster genre, we have found our latest hit in Tulsa King.”
He continued: “The series’ premiere on Paramount Plus helped drive a record signup day, fueled by our unique ability as Paramount Global to tap into Paramount Network’s incredible Yellowstone audience.”
Only time will tell if Tulsa King can continue this winning streak for the second season. House of the Dragon season 2 may be back with a vengeance, so who knows who will win round two? While we wait on more updates, here is our guide to the best thriller series of all time.