Game of Thrones returned Sunday night and a record number of viewers were ready to welcome it back.
The show's fourth season premiered to 6.6 million viewers, which is a 50 percent bump from season three's debut, reports Variety. The viewing numbers also top last season's finale by a 22 percent increase.
The new episode also became the series' most-watched episode by over a million viewers. Season three's sixth episode was the series' previous high, with 5.5 million tuning in for that episode.
On top of being Game of Thrones' most-watched episode, it was also the biggest audience for an HBO telecast since the final episode of The Sopranos, which bowed back in 2007, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
If both telecasts on Sunday night are added together, a total of 8.2 million viewers tuned in for the premiere.
New comedy series Silicon Valley also received a nice start thanks to its lead-in. The show became HBO's most watched comedy debut with 2 million viewers since Hung premiered five years ago to 2.8 million viewers.