However, while logic would have you presume viewing figures would be down this week, the opposite proved true as ‘The Spoils of War’ racked up record figures.
According to HBO, 10.17 million US viewers tuned into the episode, which aired on the network’s primary station at 9 pm.
The previous high for the show was the season seven premiere, which saw 10.1 million tune in, while season six averaged around 8 million.
Those figures do not include consolidated viewing across all platforms, including HBO’ streaming service. Last season, those figures averaged 25.7 million viewers.
The already infamous HBO hack — reminiscent of the devastating 2014 Sony hack — has seen personal information about Game of Thrones stars leak online.
Meanwhile, for those millions who have seen the fourth episode, we’ve rounded up nine of the biggest callbacks and references you may have missed.
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