Whether you loved it, hated it or were completely indifferent to it, HBO’s Westworld did this fall what few shows can do these days: broke through.

Westworld is HBO’s highest-rated first season ever, averaging nearly 12 million viewers per episode over the course of the season, according to Polygon, outpacing HBO’s global mega-hit Game of Thrones, the audience for which has grown season to season.

While the show’s success can be attributed to several factors — an astonishing cast that included Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden and Jimmi Simpson, for starters — its producers also understood exactly how to play to its audience. Viewers initially were intrigued by the show’s intricate mystery, and remained glued to their screens from beginning to end.

According to Adweek, after the pilot episode aired, 90,000 tweets were posted about the show. By the show’s finale, that number had more than doubled to 190,000 tweets.

HBO also kept fans’ curiosity stoked with online efforts that included two microsites, Discover Westworld and Delos Incorporated, and a virtual-reality experience. Both microsites were chalk full of easter eggs, and also encouraged the fandom to seek and find deeper ways into the sites. Once there, they could learn more about the show and its inner mysteries.

RELATED: HBO Markets ‘Westworld’ With VR, Realistic Microsite to Bring Show to Life

HBO also created additional experiences, led by Sabrina Caluori, SVP of digital media and marketing. Calouri and her team worked with Google to create a chatbot in the voice of Westworld robot hostess Aeden and partnered with TechCrunch Disrupt to create a virtual reality experience, reports Adweek.

RELATED: ‘Westworld’ Intrigues Fans with Interactive and Immersive Website

Season two of the expensive, star-stocked drama doesn’t return until 2018, but digital experiences like these, online chat rooms and rewatches of season one promise to keep Westworld alive in fans’ imaginations for months to come.

READ MORE: Adweek

[Image courtesy of HBO via Adweek]

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