As if we weren’t already going to spend the next 10 months talking about Game of Thrones already, the epic HBO series of course drew its biggest audience yet for Season 5 finale “Mother’s Mercy.” Fandom may have endured some losses, but HBO sees only dollar signs as the latest figures roll in.

According to early reports, Sunday’s Game of Thrones Season 5 finale drew upwards of 8.1 million viewers, a series high, and improvement over the premiere numbers at a scant 8 million. By comparison, Season 4 finale “The Children” drew in a then-record 7.1 million viewers.

Of course, legal numbers only represent part of the story, as TorrentFreak reports that “Mother’s Mercy” received upwards of 1.5 million illegal downloads in the first eight hours of its release. Not only does the record stand as the site’s fastest download to date, but so too is the number expected to jump to 10 million in only a handful of days.

Game of Thrones will have plenty to answer for when the HBO drama arrives at Comic-Con 2015 next month, but however much pain the series sees fit to dish out, we just keep coming back for more. Will Game of Thrones ever slow down, or will ever-increasing numbers prompt HBO to take a harder look at that seven-season model producers hope to keep to?

More From ScreenCrush