Another of the Targaryen kind: "House of the Dragon" topped the rating of August TV series

The premiere of the third season of "House of the Dragon" has returned the audience's interest in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" franchise. The project topped the Russian rating of the series "Medialogia" in August. The top 5 also includes the Russian drama "Cold", the TV hit "Sled", the anime "Magic Battle" and the anti-superhero satire "Boys". Read more about the reasons for the success of the rating leaders in the Izvestia article.

"House of the Dragon", 1st place

The third season premiered in the summer of 2026. The plot develops hundreds of years before the events of "Game of Thrones" and tells about the devastating conflict between the two lines of the Targaryen clan. There are new characters in the sequel. Prince Daeron Targaryen is among them.

Artem Remizov, film reviewer, author of the Telegram channel "Remizorro":

"It seems to me that the success of all the released seasons of House of the Dragon lies in the residual principle of Game of Thrones. That series was very popular in Russia, and almost everyone watched it. The new project is related to the franchise, obviously, it is also being watched. However, it surprises me a bit. The first seasons of "House of the Dragon" were very uneven, and the beginning of the project was generally weak, even if not compared with "Game of Thrones". People probably want scale, fantasy, and magic. They miss it, that's why they're watching."

"Cold", 2nd place

The main character of "Cold", Zhenya, played by Lyubov Aksenova, loses her beloved husband and daughter in a terrible accident. However, the perpetrators of the accident — the company of arrogant majors — get away with everything. Moreover, Zhenya herself finds herself in the colony, who did not accept the attempt of their influential families to pay off. In captivity, a girl becomes obsessed with one idea that prevents her from taking her own life — to take revenge on her abusers.

Pavel Burya, producer of the series "Cold"

"Cold" resonated with the audience primarily with its social theme. The main character, played by Lyubov Aksenova, is a man going through the most difficult trials that can break anyone. But she remains strong and moves on: not because she doesn't feel pain, but because she finds support inside herself where, it would seem, there is nothing left. It is this theme of female power, the ability to reassemble oneself against all odds, that has proved to be close to many.

Besides, this is, of course, a great job for the team: the acting, the ambiguity of the characters, the interesting cinematography and directing. In addition to the initially strong script, "Cold" is also a great work of actors and a director who were able to convey this story and bring it to the viewer. All this together caused a resonance."

"Magic Battle", 3rd place

The plot centers on high school student Yuji Itadori, who spends all his time in the hospital with his grandfather. Wanting to distract himself, the guy joins an occult club and finds himself in the epicenter of the struggle for human destinies. He learns of the existence of demons that feed on humans.

Alexander Dasevich, dubbing actor, voiced Atsuya Kusakabe in the Russian localization of the anime "Magic Battle"

"First of all, I am very pleased that interest in anime is growing in our country. For a long time, watching anime and reading manga was something childish and adolescent. And now more and more older people are joining. Not least thanks to projects like The Magic Battle. The title is designed for a fairly wide audience, including women. There are good, strong female characters there. "The Magic Battle" is very good both for its plot idea and the non-canon nature of its development. The fact that monsters appear out of people's negative feelings is interesting in itself, because everyone experiences them with a certain frequency. Here we are shown a good visualization of these very feelings. The development is very unpredictable, there are many plot twists that are very difficult to predict. And this, as in other series, makes you want to continue.

The confrontations of magicians with monsters are not built as clumsily as, for example, in sports anime, where the one who has trained harder wins. Every battle here is like a chess game. It's not enough to just be stronger, you need to think logically, cheat somewhere, cheat. Also, the "Magic Battle" is quite dark, tough, and many people like it much more than something vanilla. It greatly expands the audience."

Sled, 4th place

The crime detective "Sled" first aired almost 20 years ago, and over the years the TV project has gained an impressive fanbase. Viewers have come to trust the FES staff, criminology experts who, with the help of not only experience and professionalism, but also the most modern technologies, solve crimes.

Vladimir Tashlykov, actor of the TV series "Sled", performer of the role of Major Nikolai Kruglov

"I love detective stories, so I felt sympathy for this project right away. The team was very well chosen — both the director, the script, and the cast. It seems to me that these are the main components that have been working smoothly for a very long time. In addition, the niche we occupied turned out to be vacant in those years — it was a novelty to show all these technologies, which were just developing then and will continue to develop after us. And we plunged into this area and began to speak clearly in the language of the people who work with them, about how they see a particular situation, what their point of view is based on. It was new to us, but very interesting. The consultants suggested to us the very little things on which any series is based, which is detailed and professionally suitable for its business.

We welcome every viewer who joins in the discussion of a particular episode. We really like that we have people who chose their profession because they watched our series. Our characters turned out to be close to them. It's very expensive. It means that what you do in the frame touches the audience."

"Boys", 5th place

A satirical drama about a world in which superheroes are not noble saviors, but untouchable stars who have lost their heads from fame. They regularly take advantage of their impunity. The all-powerful antagonists in tights are opposed by a team of "Boys". Each character in this story has their own scores to settle with superheroes.

Evgeny Bazhenov (Badcomedian), blogger and film critic

"In April 2026, the last episodes of the fifth season were released — one of the most famous and hyped series of the year was coming to an end. An epic finale was announced. In fact, it turned out to be not so epic. Nevertheless, a huge number of memes and the attention of the audience ensured that they got into the rating. It's not surprising that the series ended up at the top of the ratings."