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3 min readNew DelhiFeb 21, 2026 06:27 PM IST
Breaking Bad's perfect IMDb score is toppled.
Breaking Bad is one of the most loved shows in the history of television and its fans have stayed fiercely loyal even more than a decade after it ended. Its Season 5, Episode 14, Ozymandias, long held a 10/10 rating on IMDb. This week, however, that perfect score slipped.
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For the first time since it aired in 2013, Ozymandias dropped to 9.9. And the reason appears to be a brewing ratings battle between fan communities.
Breaking Bad’s perfect score challenged by A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
This seems to be related with the release of Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel based on George R.R. Martin’s novellas. The episode, titled In the Name of the Mother, premiered on February 15 and briefly matched Ozymandias with a perfect 10/10 on IMDb, making it only the second TV episode to achieve that milestone.
Set nearly a century before the events of Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has earned strong praise from viewers and critics alike.
Soon after its release, though, the episode’s rating began to dip — first to 9.8 and then to 9.7. Supporters of the show believe that the drop was not organic, but the result of coordinated low ratings from Breaking Bad fans seeking to preserve Ozymandias’ long-standing supremacy.
A ratings retaliation by Knight of the Seven Kingdoms fans?
In response, fans of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reportedly mobilised online, encouraging others to downvote Ozymandias. The effect was swift.
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The episode’s rating, which had remained untouched for over 12 years, fell to 9.9.
At the time of writing, Ozymandias holds more than 339,000 ratings on IMDb, including over 52,000 one-star votes, many of which appear to have been submitted recently. Meanwhile, In the Name of the Mother has received nearly 97000 ratings, with around 5,000 one-star reviews.
While IMDb’s ranking system factors in weighted averages beyond simple user scores, the change is still notable, marking the end of a 13-year run at a perfect rating.
About Breaking Bad
Directed by Rian Johnson, Ozymandias remains a pivotal chapter in Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. It is often described as one of the greatest hours of television ever produced. Breaking Bad concluded in 2013 and was later expanded with the spin-off Better Call Saul as well as the film El Camino.
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About A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Created by Ira Parker, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms draws from George R.R. Martin’s novellas of the same name. The series features Peter Claffey as Dunk, a wandering hedge knight, who takes on an unexpected squire in Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) — secretly Prince Aegon Targaryen in disguise. The show has been widely praised, with its Season 1 finale set to stream this weekend.
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