His Dark Materials: HBO has another ratings hit on its hands!

His Dark Materials kicked off this week with strong numbers.

The highly anticipated adaptation looks like it’s going to be a huge success on all accounts. His Dark Materials pulled in great numbers for HBO and even better numbers for BBC. For anyone who was worried the series might flop like The Golden Compass film, those fears have been assuaged.

According to Deadline, the premiere snagged about 700,000 viewers across all of the HBO platforms. In fact, it almost reached the numbers for Chernobyl, which premiered to about 756,000 viewers. For a Monday night, this was an incredibly strong showing for the series. Especially when the series faced direct competition from other Monday night shows as well as Monday night football.

Meanwhile, Deadline reports the BBC viewership was massively higher. His Dark Materials had the greatest numbers for a new drama launch in five years. It was apparently watched by a staggering 7.2 million people on its Sunday night launch.

If the series follows the same pattern as Chernobyl, then HBO can expect to see those numbers rise each week.

The show stars Dafne Keen as Lyra Belacqu, a young girl who undertakes a massive journey after discovering a deeper conspiracy. Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff, Clarke Peters, James Cosmo, Ariyon Bakare, Will Keen, Lucian Msamati, Gary Lewis, Lewin Lloyd, and Daniel Frogson also star.

His Dark Materials airs each Monday at 9 PM on HBO and Sunday at 8 PM on BBC One.

Did you watch the premiere? What did you think? Will you be tuning again? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!

Source: Deadline