Many critics and fans on social media saw the ending as a let down. The “Thrones” series finale, which capped off a story that was nine years in the making, was one of the most anticipated in television history.

Season eight of the series is averaging 44.2 million viewers per episode when you account for delayed viewing. For example, “The Big Bang Theory,” one of TV’s most popular sitcoms, nabbed 18 million viewers for its finale this week. “Game of Thrones” numbers are pretty big by TV standards. The rest were viewers who watched an encore presentation, or who streamed the show with the HBO Go or HBO Now apps. Sunday night, making it the most-watched telecast in the network’s history, according to HBO. The viewership for “The Iron Throne” includes 13.6 million people who watched the episode on HBO at 9 p.m. The finale, titled “The Iron Throne,” broke the record set by last weekend’s episode, “The Bells,” for which 18.4 million viewers tuned in. The final episode of “ Game of Thrones” brought in a series record of 19.3 million viewers.

Games of throne time slot for sunday