The bloody final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has been on a ratings tear, and Sunday’s third episode of the season, with its massive battle, set a record. The AP cites Nielsen data saying the episode attracted 17.8 million viewers either live on the network at 9 p.m., streamed, on-demand or in a rerun that aired later Sunday night.

“That made it the week’s most-watched show, cable or broadcast, and the most-watched one-day event ever in HBO’s four decades of existence, topping the ‘Game of Thrones’ season eight premiere, which had 17.4 million viewers two weeks earlier,” the AP reports.

The report notes that about 12.02 million people watched the episode live, slightly below the season seven finale.

“The episode known as ‘The Long Night’ was the longest in series history at 1 hour, 22 minutes,” the AP notes. “It featured a battle between the living and the dead — teased and anticipated since season one — that had a sky-high casualty count even for the famously bloody fantasy series.”

The series finale, scheduled to run May 19, is expected to break even the records currently being set. The series is also holding up well in delayed and repeat viewings, with HBO saying 38 million people have now watched the season eight premiere.